Low Technology, often abbreviated as Low Tech, serves as a counter concept of High Technology. The meaning of the term is not standardized and depends very much on the context in which it is used. In “Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism”, Julia Watson defines Low Tech as technology that dates far back in time, to the pre-industrial era or a source of indigenous knowledge.
Kris de Decker, who is running the website Low Tech Magazine describes a low tech mindset as an attitude that is critical about new technologies and refuses to assume that “a new technology technology is inherently better than the one it replaces” (link).
The Redundant Technology Initiative defines the term in an artistic context as “technology that is simple or cheap” (link). Their work has been exhibited in an art show titled Low Tech in Switzerland in 2000. The manifesto of the exhibition emphasizes the powerful gesture of low tech art: “Lowtech is the casual answer to the myths of technology and the needs that an industry associated with it wants to create”. And further: “Low-tech is therefore by no means just a cheap substitute for more expensive technology, but makes practices accessible that are regularly buried in the fixation on the latest and most expensive.” (translated with deepl.com, link to original)
Published Jun 16, 2024 by Tim Rodenbröker
Last update Jun 16, 2024