Resurgence of Tactile, Analog Processes
In a digital age, artists embrace slow making and material imperfection as acts of defiance and renewal.
At a moment when screens and algorithms have come to dominate every facet of cultural production, many artists are reclaiming the tangible qualities of materials and the contemplative pace of analog methods. This return to slowness and imperfection is not simply a reaction to technology but a declaration that some kinds of knowledge emerge only through embodied process and direct contact.
Anna Olivia Riley’s photobook, which weaves together personal archives and found images, captures this impulse vividly. Each page feels provisional and handmade, layered with textures that resist digital smoothness. Her work confronts the anxiety of constant documentation by reminding viewers that memory is always incomplete. Instead of aspiring to frictionless resolution, Riley embraces the gaps, the overlaps, and the moments of uncertainty. The result is an object that feels both intimate and deliberately unresolved.
Tacita Dean’s commitment to 16mm film reinforces this ethic of material devotion. In an era when digital projection has become the default, Dean has continued to champion the tactile luminosity of celluloid. Her films often dwell on the passage of time and the fragile nature of the medium itself, drawing attention to the labor required to process, edit, and preserve analog footage. For Dean, the film strip is more than a vessel for images. It is an active participant in the work, carrying its own history of scratches, dust, and fading emulsion.
This resurgence of the handmade is not merely nostalgic. It reflects a wider desire to reintroduce friction, presence, and unpredictability into cultural experiences. Against the backdrop of accelerated automation and algorithmic recommendation, these practices assert that meaning is inseparable from the materials that hold it. They align closely with the SUPERWRX philosophy of neo-authenticity, which favors sincerity, transparency, and forms of expression that cannot be instantly replicated.
For audiences, encountering work by artists like Riley and Dean offers a chance to slow down and attend to detail. In a culture conditioned to expect seamless surfaces and immediate clarity, their practices remind us that art can also be a site of resistance. Perhaps the most significant question these works pose is whether we still have the patience to engage with what unfolds slowly, imperfectly, and by hand.
Examples:
