In 2019, the artisanal manufacture of Talavera-style pottery of the Spanish towns of Talavera de la Reina and Puente del Arzobispo was deemed Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. The manufacturing, decoration and glazing procedures of this pottery have remained virtually unchanged since the 16th century, having been passed down through generations of artisans. With this, UNESCO was committed to the defense of this intangible expression.
The Ruiz de Luna Museum of Ceramics brings together an important collection of Talavera pottery from the 16th to 20th centuries, as well as samples from other potteries such as Alcora or Manises, and even archaeological pieces that take us back to the beginnings of the technique. It is named after the ceramist Juan Ruiz de Luna, who assembled an outstanding collection of Talavera pottery, and contributed with his own creations.
Among them we find his compositions with fragments:, works made with ceramic remains recovered from excavations or ruins where kiln waste accumulated. Each of these remains are the vestige of a complete piece, but all together refer to something more valuable: an intermittent archive that, through technical and aesthetic changes, has survived over time and is now protected as Intangible Heritage.
The Internet is a space of encounter and access, but also a territory for oblivion. Broken links, obsolete plugins, images that do not load and pages that will never be updated again. It is also an immaterial heritage, threatened by the constant and immediate possibility of loss to which the intangible is subjected. Transferring Ruiz de Luna's composition to the Internet, we recover digital remains of the institution and its works that, in time, will end up referring to broken links and 404 pages. The web reaffirms itself as a context of brittle and uncertain memories, where a commitment to safeguard its immaterial pillars is also necessary if we want its permanence in time.
Each promise to this web is a pact of treasuring one of the compositions generated, and with it, part of the digital heritage associated with the institution. In the same way that a museum promises to society to preserve the pieces it stores, we become responsible for part of this intermittent archive, facing an uncertain future.
Thanks to:Amigos del Museo de Cerámica de Talavera