Extinct: A Compendium of Obsolete Objects

Blending architecture, design, and technology, a visual tour through futures past via the objects we have replaced, left behind, and forgotten.

So-called extinct objects are those that were imagined but were never in use, or that existed but are now unused--superseded, unfashionable, or simply forgotten. Extinct gathers together an exceptional range of artists, curators, architects, critics, and academics, including Hal Foster, Barry Bergdoll, Deyan Sudjic, Tacita Dean, Emily Orr, Richard Wentworth, and many more. In eighty-five essays, contributors nominate "extinct" objects and address them in a series of short, vivid, sometimes personal accounts, speaking not only of obsolete technologies, but of other ways of thinking, making, and interacting with the world. Extinct is filled with curious, half-remembered objects, each one evoking a future that never came to pass. It is also a visual treat, full of interest and delight.


About the Author
Barbara Penner is professor of architectural humanities at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. Her books include Bathroom, also published by Reaktion Books, and she is a contributing editor of Places Journal. Adrian Forty is professor emeritus of architectural history at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. He is the author of many books, including Concrete and Culture: A Material History, also published by Reaktion Books. Olivia Horsfall Turner is a historian of architecture and design and senior curator of designs at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Miranda Critchley is completing her PhD at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, on railways and colonial narratives of progress.