Compact Disc

Welcome to the Broken CDs exhibit.

Here, you will find once-pristine discs now lying scratched, cracked, and shattered. These CDs, which once held music, software, or treasured memories, now serve as relics of a bygone era in digital media. The reflective surfaces, once flawless and capable of playing crystal-clear audio or data, are now marred by deep scratches and fractures, making them unreadable. Light dances across their damaged surfaces, revealing rainbow patterns amidst the scars, but their original purpose is lost. These broken CDs remind us of the rapid advancement of technology and how quickly even the most cutting-edge media can become obsolete.

Compact Discs, or CDs, were designed to store vast amounts of information by encoding data into tiny pits on the surface of the disc, which a laser would read. Even the slightest scratch could disrupt the laser’s ability to read the information correctly, leading to skips in music or corrupted files. Now, these once-reliable storage devices are cracked or bent, their data inaccessible. Some of the CDs in this collection are split in half, their reflective coating peeling away, exposing the fragile plastic layers beneath. They serve as a reminder that even the most durable-looking technology has its limits.

These broken CDs symbolize more than just the failure of a physical object; they represent the fleeting nature of digital storage in an ever-evolving technological world. As digital media moves to cloud storage and streaming, the CD, once revolutionary, is now a relic of a time when physical discs were the primary means of accessing music and data. Though broken and unable to fulfill their original purpose, these CDs stand as a reminder of the role they played in shaping how we once interacted with technology. They are artifacts of a not-so-distant past, now rendered fragile and obsolete in the face of progress.