Souvenir authenticity in the additive manufacturing age

Constantia Anastasiadou and Samantha Vettese

Annals of Tourism Research, 2021, vol. 89, issue C

Abstract: The expansion of additive manufacturing or 3D printing as a novel (re)production method disrupts social consumption patterns and challenges existing conceptualisations of tourist souvenirs as material, metonymic and symbolic objects that often lack authenticity. The paper evidences how using additive manufacturing to involve visitors in souvenir design decisions in a heritage site may influence their perceptions of souvenir authenticity and value. The transience between physical states (physical object to scanned digital file to physical object again), and the opportunity for visitors to self-craft or contribute to the (re)production process adds a performative element to souvenir consumption that imbues the 3D printed souvenir with its own authenticity and aura. As 3D printers become more ubiquitous, they will redefine further souvenir materiality.

Keywords: Authenticity; Souvenir; Materiality; Aura; 3D printing; Authentication; Digital fabrication (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738321000505
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:89:y:2021:i:c:s0160738321000505

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2021.103188

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Tourism Research is currently edited by John Tribe

More articles in Annals of Tourism Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().