It is great to learn more about such examples of artwork, as well as critical approaches and questions regarding the hybrid city as interface.
Regarding city as a "play-ground" for augmented reality devices, today I was thinking about ATM's as the ultimate game interface which turns our real urban life into a virtual reality game or simulation. Let me explain:
Whether we use debit or credit cards, the ATM's are necessary stops in the everyday-lives of each and everyone of us. It is like a source of "energy", which feeds us all with the necessary "fuel=money", in order to perform our everyday activity. You can see this fact even from the very close bodily relationship that we have with these machines, while we perform a transaction, we go very close to the machine in an intimate and "secretive"- one could even describe as "erotic" - way, like whispering to a close buddy, with whom we are sharing our secrets, or like praying or making a wish (well, sometimes I do, actually!!:-)
Although it might be of interest, I don't mean to go here into a deep Freudian analysis on this intimate relationship that we share with ATM's, however, I wish to continue my argument, that, from a socio-logical point of view, ATM's have created new ways of social interaction, including new forms of violence and criminality. There are instances, par example, where ATM's have been ripped off by tracks instead of performing a traditional bank robbery.
But this is not my main point. What i mean by simulation here is simple: my life. From where I stand, I wake up each morning and go to the ATM for cash. Within my day, I purchase some goods with this cash and the rest that I need for my living I credit to my card. At night, I go back to the ATM to pay my bills and, if I have been "good", meaning that i have purchased several goods at selected times or places, I may get bonus points in return, that can keep me going for one day more, maybe, in this game.
So maybe, let me rephrase your question, it is not about "whose city?", the debate, but about "whose game?" and maybe the ultimate question is "how many points/days are there really left for me/us?
All my best,Veroniki
--- Στις Παρ., 16/07/10, ο/η Daphne Dragona <daphne.dragona@gmail.com> έγραψε:
Από: Daphne Dragona <daphne.dragona@gmail.com>
Θέμα: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] [Yasmin_an] Announcing new discussion topic on the subject of "The hybrid city as an interface"
Προς: yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
Ημερομηνία: Παρασκευή, 16 Ιούλιος 2010, 17:15
Hello!
Thinking about the recent posts on augmented reality platforms, the need for
critical approaches/statements by artists as well as about the reference to
*They Live* movie, the very interesting project of the *Artvertiser *came to
my mind.
Artvertiser has been created by Julian Oliver, Clara Boj, Diego Diaz and
Damian Stewart and has been set up in metropolises like Madrid and
Berlin. Participants
in the Artvertiser project can view during a walk in the city center
advertisements being replaced by art, by wearing the projects' binoculars .
(More here: http://selectparks.net/~julian/theartvertiser/<http://selectparks.net/%7Ejulian/theartvertiser/>)
So while social behaviours and public attitudes are being transformed
through the new opportunities for contribution, participation and
interaction given by social web platforms and augmented tools, projects such
as the Artvertiser call for a re –thinking of the image of the post fordist
/networked/ capitalist city that we are inhabiting. Augmented reality is
being used as it seems not only to subvert the advertisement info
pollution found in contemporary cities but also to comment on the use of
technology itself. And while applications like Layar may prove to be to a
great extent precious new tools for companies to advertise their new
products, art projects like the Artvertiser seem to take us to a new
"improved reality" - as its creators frame it.
A "traditional" question however pops up again when discussing such issues:
Whose city are we talking about when we refer to the use of augmented
reality for the urban environment? Is it about a technologically privileged
class (that includes a precarious creative class with in it) or can the
outreach be broader? Can augmented reality projects be used to
involve/address different social groups? Would be interesting if such
examples could be also brought up.
Daphne
--
Daphne Dragona
cultural [net]worker & mediator
m: +4917699027880
skype name: dapdra
http://www.ludicpyjamas.net
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