Beyond the object. “Re-producing” immateriality and authenticity in culturally intensive performative artifacts

The aim of this paper is to discuss the meaning, ethic implications and design potentialities of dealing with the intangibles or soft aspects of things, like narrative, dialogic, active and relational qualities, in the today scenario of meta- materiality or augmented materiality of artifacts. The concept of cultural intensive performative artifacts is introduced to present a framework of augmented actants, both on the side of responsive behaviors (object capacity for action, transformation, adaptation to contextual or user needs), and of cultural aspects (object originality, continuity and persistence of authentic values, uses and forms) for questioning and negotiating the reproduction of immateriality and authenticity.