*Background of the image
-in the digitisation process, the object is placed behind a grey uniform background in an attempt to direct all attention towards its physical properties and to 'neutralise' any other details that appears in the frame
-in studio photography a backdrop is often used:
    -- collapsible disks
    -- Chroma key background
    -- seamless paper
    -- fabric backgrounds
-by making the distinction between foreground and background there is already a decision being made of what information will be discarded
-the neutral backdrop removes the possibility to localise: geographic and historical contexts are replaced; what is the potential of the background as a space to store clues on its discursive position within the museum?
-the staging of this objective, frictionless process has a formulaic nature. Think of Amazon's patent for the studio arrangement (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&S1=08676045&OS=PN/08676045&RS=PN/08676045), where the studio arrangement that Amazon uses to take photographs of their merchandise is monetized
-distinguishing the background from the point of focus is a common practice in machine learning, where humans draw the delimitations
-Why the grey screen and not the green screen? Their effects are completely opposite: if we consider the contrast between the green screen high visibility which facilitates removal in postproduction, the grey screen's less noticeable appearance is later turned into the materiality and contextuality of the object
-interested in the spaces that let us peak at the placement within the museum
-the background is material: traces in dust, accidental fingerprints, scaling inventions all speak of the past of an object http://diversions.constantvzw.org/projects/Differences_that_matter/Intro/SAM6211.JPG , http://diversions.constantvzw.org/projects/Differences_that_matter/Intro/id-lace-2-g.jpg



*Object as middleground
-the objects are often presented in isolation, reduced to a two dimentionsionality that is only betrayed by the shadows in the picture; the museum's architecture is removed 
-the relationships between objects are not emphasised through the interface
-often there is only one photograph of the object
-the object is turned into an administrative image, which serves as a visual index of its original counterpart
-the image becomes indexical, meant for administrative purposes (the quality of the photographs is low, they are not meant for consumption or production but for reference purposes)


*Interface as foreground
-similarly to the image's background, the object finds itself as a middleground between its backdrop and the layout it is shown it. 
-the foreground in this case is represented by Carmentis, the collection management software. Carmentis guides our eyes through the page and manages the choreography of museological epistemology
-it determines how much we can know about an object
-Martino's intro to the transition from inventories to online catalogue in the collection of musical instruments museum (previously independent) http://video.constantvzw.org/diversions/presentations/MVI_0240.webm (9:37 onwards): interface affordances as elements of care
-from the experiments Peter, Nicolas and I did during DiVersions: the interface can be seen as a mould that generates new but extremely similar experiences. the diffs between screenshots can also be seen as an attempt 
-http://diversions.constantvzw.org/projects/Differences_that_matter/gifs/DIFanimation2overlay.gif


Possible outcomes:
-a guide of the objects in various collections of the museum, where the background, not the object is shown: emphasis on relationality between objects
-a way for visitors to be able to take photographs of the objects and upload them to the archive
-bookmarklets to inject annotations and commentary from visitors to the archive's website

Notes:
-temporalities of the object are missing from both foreground and background



Tools:
*Grabcut http://www.cs.ru.ac.za/research/g02m1682/
*Gimp
*Python scraper
*Python diff maker



Bibliography post post DiVersions:
*Colonial backdrop http://www.surfacenoise.info/neu/globalmediaf16/readings/AppaduraiColonialBackdrop.pdf
*The Art of Pointing. On Peirce, Indexicality, and Photographic Images https://www.academia.edu/192769/The_Art_of_Pointing._On_Peirce_Indexicality_and_Photographic_Images



Bibliography pre post DiVersions:
*The Queer Art of Failing - John Halberstam
*Digital Memory and the Archive - Wolfgang Ernst
*The Archive as a Productive Space of Conflict
*Memory in motion