With the book Lapon d’une Renne, Voyages into the Arctic Regions former researcher Fine Art Stijn Verhoeff investigated the current phenomenon of digitising libraries. Books all over the globe are scanned for preservation and communication purposes, but this archiving process is not without its consequences: images fade, unexpected colours appear, folded pages are not unfolded while being scanned, personal notes become part of the original. These books, and arguably knowledge and history, are reshaped and deformed. Lapon d’une Renne, Voyages into the Arctic Regions explores the archives of the World Wide Web, and examines the history of Arctic exploration. It can be read as a critique on the digitisation of knowledge, but at the same time the book is also a celebration of the illegible outcomes of these digital processes.

Language: English and Dutch