Mediated Space

The Mediated Space group examines the ways that emerging technologies are affecting/ broadening our social experiences within mediated environments that are generally located within public and semi-public space. We look at technologies such as synthetic vision, artificial intelligence, geolocational devices, and sensorial devices for inscription/ expression as an environmental medium and investigate how they affect our perception of real and virtual spaces. Primarily, we are concerned with the ways in which this altered perception affects social interactions and our notions of identity.

In The Production of Space, philosopher Henri Lefebvre describes space as a social phenomenon where history accounts for the "interrelationships of spaces and their links with social practice". He argues that the production of space is grounded in inherent conditions, where traces of social existence are forever creating our histories and our perception of space. In 20th century psychoanalysis, perception of space is also seen as an important reflection of self. In an acute example, Sigmund Freud's analysis of agoraphobia determined that the fear of large open spaces is a predominantly female phenomenon and that women who suffer from agoraphobia have a repressed desire for prostitution that is prompted by these open spaces and is counterbalanced with a sense of fear. While Freud's assertions seem eccentric to our present-day sensibilities, they signify the importance of space for our perceived identities and our notions of 'self'. As our physical environments become increasingly permeated with sensorially provocative forms of technology, our perception of location and presence within space becomes coupled with ephemeral attachments. New sensibilities, which could represent a perceptual shift in how we understand our relationship to our own bodies and sense of self in space, may arise from these environmental conditions.