“Interior Cities: Inhabiting Interactive Cityscapes through the Webcam and the Shared Screen” presented by Zhang
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Mixed (full papers)
Presentation Title:
- Interior Cities: Inhabiting Interactive Cityscapes through the Webcam and the Shared Screen
Presentation Subtheme:
- Speculative practices
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
This paper documents a multimedia interactive installation which explores the networked camera spaces as tools for placemaking, situating an experimental practice within contemporary digital sphere where physical bodies occupying one actual space at a time but simultaneously existing in–and being connected to–many others through cameras, networks, and screens has become the most iconic reality of the modern city. During recent years, such multiplicity of presence has spurred a cultural shift much more drastically than any has come before. The pivots from situated towards remoteness in social and professional lives urge new definitions of architectural boundary, techno-aesthetics, domesticity, and public space. Designing with webcams, inhabitable screens, domestic archetypes, and daily life activities, the installation reimagines cityscapes as interactive fictions of its citizens from within their personal proximities in the gallery. It invites public engagements when examining the world around publics and individuals through an immersive environment. The project questions what existing architecture and digital media could offer in their radically transformed relationships with social mechanism, humanity, and wellbeing. The paper outlines the conceptual approach, the technical framework, and the spatial strate-gies of the installation.
