material memory

in 2005 filmmaker bilge sehir presented a hoax thought experiment called ‘vases sonores‘ (sonorous vases) which hypothesized that the sounds occurring during the etching of ancient pottery were recorded by the ceramic itself as it spun on the wheel, and they could be played back to hear – albeit faintly – the voices of the ancient potters. the mockumentary may have been ingenuous, but the idea that a material can record ambient phenomena is well-established, from ice cores and tree rings to carbon dating and photographic film. maybe one day it will be possible not only to hear what was said around a material being formed, but to know where it was made and by whom.