Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures
Abstract
The article picks up where my Sensing the Media City (2020) https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/sensing-the-media-city left, – warning about the risk for the contemporary metropolis to be reduced to an app or an algorithm, to be optimized via sensors and data, deprived of diversity and creative disorder – to discuss whether such dangers have materialised. I aim to do that by considering several (artistic) projects, the ‘City Symphony App’ an AR music app designed to enhance one’s experience when walking throughout Brisbane and the ‘Symphony for the Metaverse’, an exhibition curated by George Vitale which can be visited for free on Mozilla Hubs. Such projects represent continuity, by referring to the enduring theme of the ‘city symphony’ but also, crucially, an innovative approach where VR has completely replaced any ‘real’ / ‘human’ architectural environments with an immersive experience.
Dr Anna Notaro is Reader in contemporary media theory at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee (UK). She works across disciplinary boundaries combining an interest for critical theory with a broad Cultural/Media Studies approach. Her research outputs reflect her intellectual eclecticism, she has published widely in the field of urban visual culture and digital culture tackling topics as diverse as: the media city, cinema & new technology, digital celebrity, the ‘future of the book’, nostalgia and A.I. art. www.notarofam.com/annawork. Twitter @DrAnnaNotaro