Disc Cannot Be Read

Vašulka Kitchen Brno, 9.12 2025—8.2 2026
Concept: Miloš Vojtěchovský and Handa Gote research & development

Media archaeologists Jussi Parikka and Garnet Hertz argue that electronic media do not disappear forever; in the course of history, they occasionally awaken from their slumber and become zombie media. Disc cannot be read is a notional expedition into the forgotten corners of analog and (pre-)digital technologies, carriers, and artistic experiments dating roughly from the early 1990s. It suggests how these overlooked media, formats, devices, and software (such as VHS, Atari Video Console, floppy disks, HyperCard, CD-ROM, Macromedia Director, Flash, or Second Life) have shaped industrial as well as cultural development and research. Do they encode a unique historical, aesthetic, and social memory?

The exhibition project “Disc cannot be read” is the creative outcome of a collaboration between Vašulka Kitchen Brno (Miloš Vojtěchovský, Ondřej Merta, Kryštor Pátra), Handa Gote development & research collective and the project RetroHerna by the association Herní historie.

Thanks to the artists, researchers, publishers, collectors, among others Dušan Barok (monoskop.org), Leoš Motl, Yves Bernard (iMAL), Sandra Fauconnier / Annet Dekker, Jussi Parikka and others.

Collaboration and support: Dům umění města Brna, Motus z.s., RetroHerna, National Film Archive, Studio of Game Media FaVU VUT, Archive.org, Leoš Motl, initi.org and others.

The exhibition is held with the financial support of the City of Brno and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

Production: Viktória Pardovičová, Ondřej Merta, Kryštof Pátra
Photo: Tatiana Drgonec Dižová