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2021: Creating a Lexicon of Future
U is for Undinge
Plural of German ‘unding’: something that is absurd or morally not justified via Wordsense
‘Objects stabilise human life insofar as they give it a continuity,’ Han writes. Living matter and its history bestow on the object a presence, which activates its entire surroundings. Objects — especially well-designed, historically charged objects, and which are not necessarily artworks — can develop almost magical properties. Undinge is about the loss of this magic. ‘The digital order deobjectifies the world by rendering it information,’ he writes. ‘It’s not objects but information that rules the living world. We no longer inhabit heaven and earth, but the Cloud and Google Earth. The world is becoming progressively untouchable, foggy and ghostly.’ ~ Byung-Chul Han: How Objects Lost their Magic
