The article aims at investigating the persistence and comeback of old media technologies (phenomena we define, in short, ‘retromedia’) by developing a distinctive theoretical approach named retromedia-in-practice and based on practice theory. Far from being abandoned and forgotten, many old media devices and artefacts (such as vinyl records, cassette tapes, analogue photographic cameras, early videogames and brick mobile phones, to mention just a few notable examples) are nowadays readopted by young generations and niche media subcultures. However, most of the existing literature focusing on these cases has limits and shortfalls, resulting in a partial and misleading understanding of these phenomena: scholars and theorists often put at the centre the cultural fascination for vintage objects and the nostalgia effect; other studies rely on a taken-for-granted distinction between old and new media; the relational and processual nature of media change is rarely addressed; and in general, research lacks a framework capable of adequately integrating symbolic processes with material and technological features. In order to cope with these shortfalls, the article adopts the approach of practice theory, which enables to focus not on the media themselves, but on the practices associated with them. After presenting the distinctive framework of analysis, we exemplify our approach by analysing three different cases coming from music (vinyl records), photography (Polaroid-like instant photography) and videogaming (the ‘consolization’ of old arcade games). These case studies rely on original empirical data coming from authors’ qualitative research. The article concludes by arguing that a shift from considering retromedia as objects or discourses to retromedia-in-practice allows to both address the processual nature of retromedia and propose an interpretation that keeps together media materiality, their meanings and also the embodied activities and behaviours that are attached to them.

With the universalization of modern technology and its integration into society, the future of analog and its production continues to be a major topic of controversy. Analog has been around for many years, it’s reliable, consistent and holds more to a person than monetary value compared to digital artifacts (Sabine Lenk 100). Digital artifacts are original content that is digitally created and holds historic or cultural interest (Koo 113-121). The adoption of an innovation is always complex especially when it is trying to replace something that has been incorporated into a conformist habit since the beginning of time (Fermin). Many are concerned that analog will be eradicated in the future due to digital artifacts being dominant. This paper examines Seiler and Surprenant’s two assertions’, regarding digital media. The assertions include: (1) “digital medium is powerful” and (2) due to this power, “it will all but eradicate its competitors”. A critical analysis on both proclamations will be the focus of this paper. Seiler and Surprenant argue that “digital medium is powerful”, which will result in the extermination of its competitors. In this paper, the evidence indicates that digital media’s dominance is largely prevailing, due to its ubiquity and inclusivity. On the other hand, this paper argues that the second proclamation is not entirely true, due to the fact that Seiler and Surprenant did not consider that older and digital media can co-exist and complement each other.

Is the “digital age”, like the industrial revolution, the atomic age and the space age, a historical era that has now ended? Has the digital revolution changed society so pervasively, universally and permanently that the term has become redundant? The effects on sound and audiovisual archiving have been immense, sweeping through every aspect of our work and our thinking. Yet as we adjust to constant technological change, we have little time left to ponder more fundamental values. This paper begins by looking at the digital revolution in retrospect, reviews its mythology, and discusses the sustainability of digital information. It questions whether the analogue/digital dichotomy is as stark as it is often represented. The revolution has been uneven, leaving a “digital divide” between rich and poor nations. The analogue disc, tape and film strip have surrendered their dominance to binary code; yet they have not disappeared, and some, like the vinyl disc, are now resurgent. Is this just reactionary nostalgia, or does it cater to something more fundamental? Does it change our concept of preservation? Will what some are now calling the “post-digital age” become the new paradigm?

The intermix between art/ culture and new technologies/ new media projected prolific discussions and debates. The term new and its marketing, but also ideological values have been questioned, as well as its ties to the theories of discourse and power. The presentation will investigate the dimension of new and old challenges of culture and art as well as their relationships to new technologies and new media in a social environment, using a two step model of appraching events: the disorder and the re- order of meaning (Ricoeur), the disrupture and social cohesion (Fuery). How is identity constructed in this new paradigm and how can we find balance between changes and continuity? Keywords: New media, identity, politics, culture and art, changes and continuity.