23 22 #10 Physical digital by João dos Santos & Marija Urbaitė The pervasive feeling of malaise and existential emptiness, which is central to the theme of alienation, serves as a symptomatic manifestation of contemporary life. This phenomenon consistently surfaces when examining issues like labor conditions within capitalist societies, leisure and consumption, disconnection from nature, and the all-encompassing impact of technology on our daily existence. Today, we are witnessing the exacerbation of this troubling condition due to our increasing and paradoxical isolation within hyper-connected societies. The migration of public spaces to the digital realm has transformed us into profitable data streams and faceless commentators. Considering our inherently social nature, face-to-face communication has always been a cornerstone of human interaction. However, what are the repercussions for our societies when physical presence is anathematized? The isolation measures implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic provided a stark glimpse into the detachment caused by digitization and reduced physical contact. How do these shifts affect the physical environment, and what concrete manifestations can be linked to the social, psychological, and political barriers we are constructing? Our approach will begin with small group readings of selected excerpts from authors who have delved into various aspects of alienation. These authors may include Baudrillard (leisure), Levinas (morality), Latour (nature), Lefebvre (public spaces), Lipovetsky (expression), Augé (space) and Byung-Chul Han (social relations). Subsequently, we will engage in discussions and reflections on these texts. Following this intellectual exploration, we will venture into the city to scrutinize public spaces through the lens of the literature we have just examined. Our analysis will draw from a wide range of sources, encompassing scholarly literature and our own personal experiences and observations, including insights gained during the Covid-19 pandemic. While considering various urban scenarios, we will identify the prominent facets of alienation within each context and explore ways to give them tangible expression through flexible forms of documentation, which may include video, audio, drawings, text, and more. Through collaborative discussions, we will select the topics and urban scenarios that resonate most with us and develop plans to create and implement a 1:1 scale installation, enabling individuals to physically experience the concepts generated by the students.
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