Material Selveges






“Indeed, our ancestors were material scientists” - Akinwumi Ogundiran


  1. Air. Atmospheric Dynamics
  2. Sound. Acoustical Structuring
  3. Mass. Graviceptive Force
  4. Smoke. Aerosol Transience
  5. Scent. Olfactory Ecology
  6. Time. Processual Temporality
  7. Temperature. Thermo-affective Fields
  8. Soil. Earthen Foundations
  9. Glass. Silicate Transparency
  10. Digital. Sensory Futures



About Material Selvedges


pronunciation: /məˈtɪəriəl ˈselvɪdʒɪz/
noun (used with a singular verb)

1. A radio-making project examining materiality through Global Majority First Nations perspectives, with a focus on Southern and West Africa.

Etymology: From material + selvedges (plural of selvedge, also spelled selvage), from Middle English self + edge. The term performs deliberate wordplay with salvage (from Old French salvage, meaning "to save"), invoking both the textile concept of a self-finished fabric edge and the act of recovering suppressed knowledge systems.



Field Notes

  1. A Cartography of the Invisible


About with another



Material Selvedges is based on with another’s third design principle:
‘Multi-Sensory Materialism’ as featured in: designmanifestos.org and designprinciplesftw.com.

In partnership with African Life-Centric Design + 16/16


Material Selvedges - Digital Digital. Sensory Futures


"The virtual is not opposed to the real but is rather one of the real's modalities." — Gilles Deleuze

Research summary:
Digital anthropology reveals how virtual environments affect real-world social relationships and cultural transmission. Indigenous media studies document how traditional knowledge systems adapt to digital formats while maintaining cultural protocols.

Digital space as a material:
Digital technologies require physical infrastructure (servers, cables, rare earth minerals) with environmental impacts. Information patterns create measurable effects on behaviour, learning, and social organisation. Many Indigenous communities develop protocols for digital engagement that maintain cultural integrity while accessing technological benefits.

Ideas we are curious to explore:
1. How traditional information governance protocols could inform ethical AI development
2. The relationship between digital practice and maintenance of place-based cultural knowledge

Senses:
Vision, Audition, Interoception.