[ISEA2014] Paper: Eva Kekou – out of the box: smart cities

Abstract

As the British architect Cedric Price said in the mid‑1960s: Technology is the answer but what is the question? Smart cities today have embedded into their infrastructure information which allows citizens to interact and become also ‘smart’.Technology and culture have fused( arguably always had) and technological advances play an important role in the intersection of art, science and technology and its new expression possibilities. In the light of the rapid technological advances and the collaboration between art and technology questions are emerging:how do we orient ourselves, with regards to today’s particular technological cultures? How do we orient our cities as regards the network’s art practices in public spaces( locative media, public art) not only transcribe the activities of urban space into a semiological meta‑level but they mainly challenge the notion of public and private space which is also linked to subjective and phenomenological space as Henvri Lefebvre claims.Focusing on design as a means of creating meaning, it will also approach the notion of public space and how it can be re‑conceptualized and materialized by using play as an element of interaction.Furthermore, this paper will study by the use of media art projects how important is technology for interaction and mediator between the city and the citizens.

  • Eva Kekou, Greece