It’s no secret that we live a good part of our lives out through our online social connects; facebook, twitter, tumblr, they all create an online persona, disconnected from our real world selves.  This leads to people spending more and more time online, even when out in public, with the possibility of real, physical interaction.  John’s project seeks to disturb this, by creating a space that forces people to interact in the real world.

STUDENT: John Farrace
SCHOOL: University of Southern California
PROFESSORS: Alvin Huang & Kara Bartelt

“The project focuses on a social extreme of digital natives who have become disinterested with normal face to face communication not out of preoccupation, but out of boredom: browsing one hundred of your friend’s pictures in a minute while listening to your favorite song with your iPhone six inches away from your face is way more engaging than standing talking to somebody for one minute.

However, the digital realm today does not stand in opposition to or as a substitute for the physical, “real” world, but instead, is characterized by imagery, signifiers, and other representational devices that constantly refer to its connection with it. The physical world is still needed to allow for the digital to exist. Urban Amphetamine attempts to re-engage people with their physical environment through highly calibrated circulation flows that feed people into engaging and intense social experiences. These experiences are coupled with self referential devices (massive arrays of mirrors) that tie users back to their environment in real time — reinforcing and playing up physical social experiences.”

All text and images via John Farrace