augmenting spaces: a response

the poetics of augmented space // lev manovich

augmented space: physical space overlaid with dynamically changing information, multimedia in form and localised for each user

does this form become irrelevant/invisible, or if ppl end up with new experience in which spatial and information layers are equally important?

dynamic between spatial form and info → how does this function differently in today’s computer culture?

augmentation is reconceptualised as an idea and cultural and aesthetic practice, rather than as technology! —— what! that’s wild. i keep being surprised at how poetic and philosophical technology is. is everything just philosophy and art? why is it that everything can be interpreted in this way? is that just the way some minds work (filtering the world through those famous rosy shades), or is that really the most fundamental view of existence? it makes sense. everything is a symbol, and nothing actually just simply exists, so any other interpretation misses all the other layers existing. i came into this class thinking it was going to be all tech based, but keep being surprised at how many more layers there are to all this, and how stimulating it has been to my other artistic interests and passions! super cool. of course i knew technology is v philosophical, and thought a lot about these topics before in terms of the evil of tech, how it influences our lives, the direction its going, its future and what it means for humanity. but there are also many sub-questions that come under each technology, that maybe aren’t as “urgent” or survival-oriented, but also very important and interesting to ponder.

“does the form become irrelevant, being reduced to functional and ultimately invisible support for information flow? or do we end up with a new experience in which the spatial and information layers are equally important?”

are they **gestalt [an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts —**always wondered what that word means] or are they processed as separate layers?

historically built environments almost always covered with ornaments → never thought about that. our world has always been augmented in a sense, it’s simply the medium that has changed…and now more interactive (? or is it? how can we define ‘more’? was it always interactive?)

examples of technological applications that dynamically deliver dynamic to, or extract data from, physical space: video surveillance, cell space technologies, computer/video displays, ubiquitous computing, augmented reality, tangible interfaces, ambient intelligence

overlaying is often made possible by tracking and monitoring of users…delivery and extraction of information are closely connected..—> .maybe surveillance is inevitable then? is it ok if it’s serving a purpose for us? a lot of ppl are uncomfortable w being monitored until they realise it is benefiting them…whole thing pierre mentioned last class about ppl willing to sell their texts for $8 etc…facebook ads are useful to us,are they not? tailored recommendations give us what we want easily and conveniently…at what cost though? whole security vs surveillance debate. should the gov be able to see everything we do to protect us? kinda not related, but also kinda is.

augmented space is ‘data dense’. if we walk around with our phones, does that mean every space has the potential to become data dense then? an overwhelming thought. we need to consider the intentional creation of places that are data light then to protect our minds and mental health. concept of no laptops in cafes etc. nature…

physical space now contains many more dimensions than before…3D→4D→5D. infinite possibilites?

from the perspective of technology and its social, political and economic uses, they are no longer more important than any other dimension…from human subject perspective, the old geometric dimensions may still priority…→ .what makes this reality more reality than any other reality?

demise in importance of geometry can be understood as part of larger paradigm shift….modern society (Foucault’s metaphor of the Panopticon: note to self: look into this) was organised around the straight lines of human sight, ie geometry of the visible, this is no longer the case for our society….most technologies do not require a line of sight

instead of binary logic of visible/invisible, the new spatial logic can be described using terms as functions or fields…every point in space has a particular value on a possible continuum (think of last class technical activities about collision…if statements…if x is in this place, if x interacts here, do this action y)…your geographical coordinates are now what matter.

AR vs VR: vr, the user works on virtual simulation…ar user works on actual things in actual space…AR systems adds information that is directly related to the user’s immediate physical space.

do not necessarily have to think of immersion VR AR as opposites…simply a matter of scale? example cinema vs watching netflix on phone

what is the phenomenological experience of being in a new augmented space? what are the possible poetics and aesthetics? what a fun question!

architectural problem? challenge and opportunity for many architects to rethink their practice…

layering of dynamic and contextual data over physical space is a particular case of general aesthetic paradigm: how to combine different spaces together

electronically augmented space is unique — information is personalised for every user…can change dynamically over time, delivered through interactive multimedia interface….this is a conceptual, rather than just technological issue….

painter, architect, display designer face the same problem…e.g. Janet Cardiff → audio walks…Jewish Museum Berlin (note to self: visit)…the past literally cuts into the present…virtual becomes a powerful force that reshapes the physical (remember this when it comes to final project inspiration)

rather than something ephemeral, immaterial layer over real space, dataspace is materalised to become sort of monumental sculpture…hmmm…infinite possibilities! the opportunities!

art production: one-of-a-kind objects created by individual artists…20th century artists expended lots of energy experimenting with what could be placed inside the neutral setting of a white cube….both the physical appearance of object and proposed mode of interaction with an object were open for experimentation…. → making me think about how poetry can interlink w technology, be used as an interactive media? there is lots of potential here. maybe my final project can integrate somehow…but we are working on museums..hmmm..unfinished thought

a gallery space has turned into its ideological enemy – a movie theatre characterised by the rigidity of its surface.

ineke schwartz: no distinction between horizontal and vertical, between floors, walls and ceiling…buildings and exhibitions have fused…mist blows around ur ears, a geyser erupts, water gleams and splatters all around you, projections fall directly onto the building and its visitors….the air is filled with waves of electronic sound

successful symbol for information age: continuously changing surfaces illustrate the key effect of the computer revolution…substitution of every constant by a variable

in high tech society, cultural institutions usually follow the technology industry….tech developed for military, business or consumer use, and after a while cultural institutions notice that some artists are experimenting with tech and so they start to incorporate it in their programming.

can situation be reversed? can cultural institutions play an active, even leader role, acting as laboratories where alternative futures are tested?

augmented space – which is slowly becoming a reality – is one opportunity for these institutions to take a more active role

Augmented Reality: an interactive overlay on the world

Shayla Wiggins → first person in human history known to have discovered a body while present in two places at once…had been using pokemon GO (hahahaha)

“she was present in two worlds at once”…i feel like this about poetry sometimes too..living in poetic state of mind/when listening to certain music/looking at art, where the whole world is art and i drift into my own mind. sometimes i am sitting in a place and feel like my mind is somewhere else, and i am living in almost strange hallucination/dreamstate (hope i dont sound insane right now…don’t think im schizoprenic)… then there is the “real world”, of responsibilities, the state of reality…but now im wondering, when we exist in our own consciousness, is that not sort of a form of augmented reality too, because we are projecting all our thoughts and ideas into the places, people and things we see/meet? in a bit exhausting and overly-metaphorical way, all our realities are augmented…by ourself. → fun, mostly unproductive thought!

conceptual shear between physical world and the realm overlaid into it…is AR separating us from seeing what is actually truly in front of us, like an ever-present distraction, separating us from our ‘reality’? does all technology do this? or that just anything tht is the focus of our attention? like how if youre in a room with someone you love, the rest of the world kind of fades away, because they become your whole focus of attention….so then, it’s not inherently a negative thing that AR pulls us out of awareness of the real world. that’s kind of an addictive feeling, and is why people turn to different substances, for that same kind of escapist magic, that pulls us away from the real world…

AR’s useful application → disorder to help with faceblindness. i read about this once, a friend has it. could be very useful….sensitive technical deployment! what a fun phrase. i also believe in this….technology is used to lower the barriers to socialised, and reduce or eliminate the social discomfort that might otherwise prevent us from knowing one another better (is this a rosy take on tinder?) → “social lubricant” lol. people always talk about how technology is dividing connection, separating us, distancing us from humans…but it can also have the opposite effect if it is used very intentionally with that purpose ind mind, in beautiful ways..hm.

neighbourhoods overwhelmed by more recent waves of colonisation, gentrification, or redevelopment, offer us opportunities to consider just how we arrived at our moment in time…pain, guilt and sense of responsibility contend with simple desire to get on with things.

evil of banality → Hannah Arendt!

stories etched in these stones are the kind of facts about a place that would seem to do well when told via augmented reality…

smartphone-based AR catastrophiclaly clumsy → 1. way in which we engage w smartphone’s functionality. 2. physical. …ill-fated Google Glass

early users of G reported disorientation upon removing headset…what happens once it is taken off?

Situated Computing: A new paradigm for design computing by John Gero

introduces concepts of situatedness and constructive memory as foundations of situated computing.

difference is between encoding all knowledge prior to its use and allowing the knowledge to be developed and grounded in the interaction between the external world and the designer/tool.

paradigm of computing: assumes that underlying programs are unchanged by use and certainly underlying programs are not affected by where or how they are used….

foundations of objective knowledge: independent of who uses and what is done with it…knowledge about structure of the world

this is not complete characterisation of use of our computational tools…in order to make use of tool, require other sorts of knowledge than simply what makes the tool work and how it works

situated computing: where you are and when you are matters and that the state you are in affects what you do (i would add to this framework that WHO you are matters too..ofc…accessibility…all living in our own subjective projected worlds)

fundamental difference is between encoding all knowledge prior to its use, and allowing the knowledge to be developed and grounded in the interaction between the tool and its environment

provide a computation system such as tool with experience based on its interaction with its environment…experience is then used to guide its future actions → personalisation…

effect of this grounded experience is to provide the tool with capability to respond differently when exposed to same environment depending on experiences it had in between the two exposures…

objective knowledge within the tool is unchanged, only knowledge that is the result of interact of toll with its environment is changed

“where you are when you do what you do matters”…illusions example. we see the world from where we are standing and based on our past experiences and physical location and eyes and views…concept of emergent matter

this song is reminding me of one of my favourite australian indie band songs → I am what you want me to be by the jungle giants….https://open.spotify.com/track/6I3sYfu0ffy4dZfETCld2H?si=vn93BuINRAG_Hve4nTRKSg

“Cause I am a manI am a starI am hereI am what you wantI am blackI am whiteI am me”

constructive memory: we are used to think of memory as a thing in location…computers can access their memory in a number of ways (by index, location or its content), but memory is unchanged by its recall…

fundamental attribute of memory: it is not composed merely of facts that can be recalled, but rather is process of construction

most memories do not exist waiting to be recalled but are constructed on demand…the demand to have a memory

call first kind of memories “fact” or experience memories….second kind “constructive” memories.

important distinguishing features of constructive memory: ability to incorporate new experiences into the construction of new and different memories

when new request for memory is mad, it may not be directly affected by any memory and may depend only on previous experiences…everything we do is just us retracing past habits/experiences? difficulties of creating new habits, being shaped by our past…

““If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing, ” Marc Chagall once said.”…reminds me of how creativity kind of the only time we are truly spontaneous as humans.

Our lives are often like “a massive game of Mindball,” argues, Edward Slingerland, professor of Asian Studies and Embodied Cognition, and author of Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity. He writes:

Our excessive focus in the modern world on the power of conscious thought and the benefits of willpower and self-control causes us to overlook the pervasive importance of what might be called “body thinking”: tacit, fast, and semiautomatic behavior that flows from the unconscious with little or no conscious interference.The result is that we too often devote ourselves to pushing harder or moving faster in areas of our life where effort and striving are, in fact, profoundly counterproductive.

“A John Hopkins study found that when jazz musicians improvise, the region of their brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex begins to slow down in activity. This area of the brain is linked to highly planned actions and self-censoring, like choosing what to say on a first date or a job interview. Their research suggests that this cerebral deceleration can lower a person’s inhibitions and allow for more creativity and free flowing thoughts,” says Brian Honigman.

Spontaneity is an expression of yourself instead of leading your life auto-pilot — guided by rules and rigid structure.

most succinct shorthand counterpart to control is spontaneity, says Maria Popova of Brain Pickings. She writes:

Ancient Eastern philosophy held it at the center of the enlightened life through the concept of wu wei, loosely translated as “spontaneous action.” The Transcendentalists of the nineteenth century recognized its vital antidote to the self-limiting compulsion for control in Emerson’s assertion that “people wish to be settled [but] only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.”

Spontaneity is a powerful tool that is almost always worth pursuing.

When you are spontaneous, you act first before you think about evaluating — doing before thinking.

You can even plan your spontaneous moments by giving yourself space to reflect on what you are currently doing to allow ideas to connect better, instead of constantly being on autopilot mode.

Innovators and artists have shown to embrace spontaneity….Some even prefer to lead a more spontaneous lifestyle than a stable path, making it easy for them to think subconsciously whilst in the state of “flow”….Think of artists, writers, and musicians who can sit for hours creating paintings, poems, and songs without stopping to censor or criticize their work.

German humanistic philosopher and psychologist Erich Fromm, from his first major work, Escape from Freedom, writes:

While spontaneity is a relatively rare phenomenon in our culture, we are not entirely devoid of it…We know of individuals who are — or have been — spontaneous, whose thinking, feeling, and acting were the expression of their selves and not of an automaton. These individuals are mostly known to us as artists.

If any creative work is to achieve greatness, it must be “realized from the unconscious,” says the eminent literary theorist Northrop Frye.

Creative artists don’t set too many boundaries, but choose to first get their ideas “out” before deciding whether to keep them or not.

Many artists don’t stop and think about what to pursue next — they simply do comes to mind. → this reminds me about how i should approach unity. just do it. once you confront it and are inside of it, it’s way less scary.

Great artists act first before they evaluate or criticise. Scale back only after you’ve created or expressed yourself fully. Swiss philosopher, Henri Frederic Amiel, rightfully claimed that “analysis kills spontaneity.”

All great works of art originate from the creators’ ability to trust their inspiration, allowing themselves to get lost “in the flow” of their craft.

Not only do spontaneous people go with the flow, but they also get lost in their own creative work.

Creativity doesn’t just start as an act, it starts as an inspiration. And that inspiration is only possible when you are spontaneous.

The more you open up to being spontaneous, the more inspired you will feel to harness your creative self.

“Be open to new people, places, and experiences. Leave space for the magic.”

stumbled upon this article after googling “creativity spontaneity” in response to the reading. https://medium.com/swlh/for-a-more-creative-life-make-room-for-spontaneity-a90d2daf70a → some quotes above are from that article that struck me and seemed somewhat loosely tangentially related and interesting.

i enjoyed the situation, experience and memories diagram. everything we do is shaped by past traumas/brain loops/habits we create in our mind “in general all new memories are directly affected by previous memories as well as experiences”

external world: world that is composed of representations outside the designer or design agent

interpreted world: world that is built up inside the designer or design agent in terms of sensory experiences, percepts and concepts…internal representation of that part of the external world that the designer interacts with

expected world: world imagined actions will produce….environment in which the effects of actions are predicting according to current goals and interpretations of the current state of the world…(how well can algorithms can predict our experiences?)