Text Machines: Scarlet Thread of the Digital Order (1883-2026)

Stanford Libraries now holds an 1883 edition of a rare book, Les laboureurs: poème tiré de Jocelyn, whose pages (text and ornaments) were entirely woven on a Jacquard loom by the firm of silk merchant Joseph-Alphonse Henry. This exhibition explores the cultural contexts and material conditions of Les laboureurs’ production, and considers parallels between technology-driven global change in the late nineteenth century and in our current day. The exhibition includes microscope images revealing the textile structure of the woven text as well as a woven enlargement that illustrates its basic principles, along with several artworks inspired by or related to the themes of the exhibition.