METACITIES

In squares, public transportation, even when with friends, the opportunity of 24/7 ‘connectedness’ provided by such technological advancements seems to have lodged its way into our lives and the social fabric in a way which is rapidly becoming the norm. It is no longer, it seems, considered rude, or even sad, if one takes their leave in a social situation merely to engage in another one through social-sharing websites or ‘texting’ with people not present. On the contrary, this activity seems to be earning the status of acceptability. On the one hand, in some ways, it severs the immediate social experience, yet on the other, it provides a replacement in the opportunity to transgress, as it were, the spatial limitations set upon social-connections in the way of negating distances between people. The more this technology takes over and the conventions as to its use are morphed into everyday life, the more people become dependent of such technologies regarding even the social realm. A sort of Tyranny of the object takes over under the pretence of ‘better communication’. It is this in mind that the video Metacity was conceived. This video tries to capture some of this paradoxical isolation involved in ‘better communication’. In it, pieces of computer components have become small rafts adrift amidst the changing architecture of our western lives, floating on a flow of inevitability. Without any pretence to preach, the idea of this video is to enable us to distance ourselves and reflect upon this contemporary situation. Fluctuating cities of such obsolete components flourish under the basking rays of the demiurge of neon-lights where all spirituality is the advancement of the object. In this strange place where space is negotiated in terms of negation and addition the human evolutionary potential in the form of primates navigate these blocks of space, reflecting their own capacity to interact by surfing on top of rafts of defunct technology while ever curious of their own reflection. Here in Metacity, there is loneliness and alienation, but also infinity of possibilities to create collectively and participate by interchanging spatial relations, navigating space-blocks. Operator, I would like to place a call to... As such, the video aims to question assumptions that may otherwise be too close for us to recognize. As a measure against this trend of isolation, through heightened awareness, there are possibilities to try and affect the impact of the flow of inevitable advancement such as is done by way of controlling rivers by dams or redirection.
As one possible little solution to restore some of this dialogue of information that escapes routines could be the resurrection of an old landmark, the telephone-booth, or stations of public telephones, as an alternative mode of substitution for the presently only one of personal virtual communication.
These public spaces, these booths, which symbolically represent the embodiment of isolation as well as telecommunication, could once more be revived through the installation of monitors that inform the local community, citizens, as well as tourists, about the different possibilities, happenings and events in the area. The telephone-booth, instead of being a simple public service, could assume the function of an information-centre becoming a visible landmark between our pre-established routes and routines, the monitors which could display the portal where people could leave their own messages and announcements regarding local events which otherwise may easily escape the attention of the wider public.
In this way, with a simple portal, the community would be able to highlight and update current and upcoming events in real time and activities of communication without necessarily having recourse to printed materials, thus cutting the prices of advertising as well as promoting eco-friendliness. Any block, town, or city could have these portals, and the more they had, the more local the concentration of information sharing would be.
Through the use of QR-codes, specific portals can be reached that are connected, thus making accessible the information in booths in different parts of an area. For each posting on the portal, there could further be a projection that could be seen on the side of the booth so as to attract passing pedestrians with real time information about concerts, exhibitions, etc. How many times does it happen that one visits a block of London, or Berlin, or a small town for that matter, not quite knowing what is going on and where to exactly find information. Through the QR-codes impressed on the telephone-booths or checking the monitor inside there would be convenient access to local life. This way the ‘architecture of isolation’ would be given an opening by way of enabling a more public way of sharing, a turn into the local of the global. We must start from small things, following the flow of change, but still resisting in order to keep in mind what is essential.