2007 AMD Open Architecture Challenge, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Nairobi, Kenya • February 2008
Today, communication systems such as the Internet, email, and mobile phones, regulate our accessibility to information networks. However, these technologies also allow others to access us, to the extent that we ourselves become undistinguishable from other forms of information. Treated as a new type of commodity, similar to information, we can always be accessed regardless of our location. The need for private time—–a time only for ourselves when we are not a commodity accessible to others—–urges us to turn off these communication devices, leaving us nevertheless burdened with a sense of guilt. There is societal pressure to stay connected, constantly eliminating any possibility of hiding.
I believe that it is only through the spatial reorganization of the public environment that this private time could successfully be implemented. Projects grouped under this category propose a new type of public realm with the capacity of establishing blank gaps of personal time:
