Rethinking public space, people and technology
From MIT’s Interrogative Design Group:
“Dis-Armor is the newest in a series of psychocultural prosthetic equipment designed to meet the communicative need of the alienated, traumatized, and silenced residents of today’s cities… It is designed for particular individuals among [Japanese] urban youth who have survived overwhelming life events (violence, neglect, and abuse) and who now wish to overcome their false sense of shame, to break their silence, and to communicate their experience in public space.”
“The Alien Staff is a portable form of public-address equipment and cultural network for individuals and groups of immigrants. It is an instrument that gives the singular operator-immigrant a chance to ‘address’ directly anyone in the city who may be attracted by the symbolic form of the equipment, by the character of the ‘broadcast’ program, and by the live presence and performance of its owner.”
“The purpose was to use progressive technology to give voice and visibility to the women who work in the ‘maquiladora’ industry in Tijuana. The women’s testimonies focused on a variety of issues including work related abuse, sexual abuse, family disintegration, alcoholism, and domestic violence. These problems were shared live by the participants, in a public plaza on two consecutive nights, for an audience of more than 1,500.”
See also:
Post-Human PROMETHEUS: Krzysztof Wodiczko’s Technology of E-motio
Krzysztof Wodiczko: Projections: Transforming Facades of Buildings into Political, Public Art (National Film Board of Canada)