architectural critique of connected utopias

An Architectural Critique of Connected UtopiasThomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt [email protected] srsg.co

mailto:[email protected]

OR

Promethean Provocations

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt

Thomas Wendt pronouns: they or he

Design Facilitator Strategist and Researcher Design Critic Author

Based in NYC

Research Interests: HCD, sustainability, design philosophy, co-operative and participatory design, design ethics and the politics of design

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Prometheus_Adam_Louvre_MR1745_edit_atoma.jpg

Prometheus = “forethought”; Epimetheus = “afterthought”Epimetheus tasked to create life, but forgot to equip humans (lack of foresight)Trick at Mecone: tricked Zeus into taking the bones, Prometheus as designer, Zeus took firePrometheus stole back fire: dissenter, trickster, rule breakerPrometheus punished by being tied to a rock and having liver eaten

Trickster, make ourselves at home through technology

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjnjpyGvYzOAhWH0iYKHThED8kQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F

%2Fwww.deviantart.com%2Fmorelikethis%2F437842361&bvm=bv.127984354,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNETu1opEuqd2VApGBRU2UB31yXDdQ&ust=1469462602276397

Common connotations of “connection”

Intimacy, closeness


The connection being sold to us


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjniZykyqrOAhUNySYKHULVBokQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2016%2F06%2F28%2Famazon-expands-its-dash-button-program-to-50-more-brands-says-orders-taking-place-twice-a-minute%2F&bvm=bv.128617741,bs.

1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHk53IK-_iuoOOZQ_6CIJrJffKjkw&ust=1470496941706454

Connected ecosystems increasingly only serve capital.

What are we trading for convenience?

They create cycles of consumption that are illustrative of our many people’s daily lives.

We are so alienated from our food sources in modern industrial capitalism that we rely on packaged garbage to feed us. So we might cook up some Kraft Mac and Cheese for dinner.

The combination of sodium, carbohydrates, and artificial everything makes us dehydrated, so we turn to Gatorade to quench our thirst.

All this sweetened, artificial food packed with preservatives upsets our digestive systems, so we always need an abundance of Cottonelle toilet paper.

We use Clorox wipes to clean the kitchen, because anything less than clinical sterilization is unacceptable.

And since the wipes are conveniently disposable, we throw them away in a Glad trash bag to be shipped off to the landfill.

We put on some Loreal Youth Code after dinner to ward off any signs of natural aging.

Now it’s time to tend to the children, feeding them their own form of packaged garbage in the form of Gerber baby food.

And changing their Huggies diaper

And throwing the old one out in the Glad bag (it always ends in trash)

Problematize these cycles

Why Architecture?


Reviewer comment.


“Architecture” = “master builder”

Article about Google turning NYC payphone booths into advertising hubs. Sign in once and receive personalized ads whenever you walk by.

"One thing I know about my fellow New Yorkers, they like things that are

completely free of charge.”

Mayor Bill De Blasio

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjx77vS7O7OAhVJlR4KHUqoAxoQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBill_de_Blasio&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNG5zE1H909KO14tQTY7MP4UVK_apA&ust=1472842656619228

Irony is that they’re not free at all.

Costing us a sense of dwelling. I’m scared by this neoliberal acceptance of invasive advertising.


Master ≠ Skilled

Master = Holder of Power

These corporations are our master builders. Not masters in the sense of highly skilled; masters in the sense of those in power.

Questioning the very idea of a master builder

“Architecture is too important to be left to architects.”

Giancarlo De Carlo

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi4gM7m8e7OAhVJlR4KHf6vDdwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Falchetron.com%2FGiancarlo-De-Carlo-767428-W&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNGN-ma0lCfhA0Cw8hU_XVdQtKoDWw&ust=1472844048049211

Where Tim Brown got the “design version”

Anarchism, Participatory architecture

Epimetheus was supposed to be a master builder

[don’t tell the steelworks story yet]

Points of Critique


“Practicing criticism is a matter of making facile gestures difficult.”

Michel Foucault

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi4-LGJ7e7OAhVJ1R4KHcOVDPAQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fredaccion.lamula.pe%2F2016%2F05%2F04%2Fcinco-peliculas-para-acercarnos-al-pensamiento-de-michel-foucault%2Fmanuelangeloprado%2F&bvm=bv.

131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNE3qL9R4PaBFzANOa50w_DK0aGHgw&ust=1472842773590572

The point of criticism is not to offer solutions, it is to make the normal ways of doing things problematic.

Google Booth

This Stuff Critiques Itself


This stuff critiques itself.

Coming from an American context. Silicon Valley.

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjbipnLsYzOAhXGJiYKHWjQDMcQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F

%2Flaughingsquid.com%2Fegg-minder-a-smart-egg-tray-that-uses-an-app-to-provide-updates-on-how-many-eggs-are-inside%2F&bvm=bv.127984354,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNEauJ6Z3tKMe4OfzJoAWyDMhMRd_Q&ust=1469459559853243

Quirky’s egg minderTells you how many eggs you have

Assuring abundance

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiCyr3OsozOAhWCSCYKHVN6ASQQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F

%2Fwww.wezzoo.com%2Foombrella&bvm=bv.127984354,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNFW9f-w2Ufj03AtTfV8df-PvqDzeQ&ust=1469459832355942https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwj86Yq7s4zOAhVKgiYKHacOAKMQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.leeo.com

%2Fdesign-and-the-internet-of-things%2F&bvm=bv.127984354,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNF53P6bO-02UhXnbT5hhQ8R8U58ZA&ust=1469460062384279https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjX3pGEtYzOAhVMOSYKHePgBpwQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F

%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fanimalia%2Fwp%2F2016%2F07%2F22%2Fso-it-has-come-to-this-an-app-that-finds-someone-to-pick-up-your-dogs-poop%2F&bvm=bv.127984354,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHG2K6LGrWC1zrMv4z-3n4CaVVQUg&ust=1469460466094999

PooperFinds someone to pick up your dog’s shit

Labor exploitation

Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiCyr3OsozOAhWCSCYKHVN6ASQQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F

%2Fwww.wezzoo.com%2Foombrella&bvm=bv.127984354,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNFW9f-w2Ufj03AtTfV8df-PvqDzeQ&ust=1469459832355942

Kars 4 Kids

Alerts when child is still in car.

Basically, we pay more attention to phones than children

(In)visibility Solutionism Sustainability

3 Critical Points


1. (In)visibility



https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwj0i7uaqK3OAhXLmh4KHW0ICqIQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amsvans.com%2Fblog%2Fbrain-computer-interface-can-help-those-with-disabilities

%2F&psig=AFQjCNGJ27gT6AJHgwlA3wKhlUobdbLzrQ&ust=1470590904970973

Invisible interfaces hold promise for certain applications, such as for those with differing abilities


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjjpejMpq3OAhXB9h4KHXy9DLkQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tbo.com%2Flist%2Fmilitary-news%2Fid-summit-showcases-gadgets-that-can-find-a-face-in-a-crowd-20150922%2F&psig=AFQjCNGOxGPz59JlKJAJK-

uSDaWdNN8agw&ust=1470590458149298

“The project of everyware is nothing less than the colonization of everyday

life by information technology.”

Adam Greenfield

Invisibility in this context is not a blending into the background for the sake of anonymity. It is quite the opposite; by making interfaces invisible, corporations are able to extract even more information without needing to be explicit about it.

“colonization”

Google booths


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwj1gqTbga7OAhVEph4KHU5VDdcQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FAbandonedPorn%2Fcomments%2F1yp9zb%2Fpresidio_modelo_a_panopticon_prison_built_on_isla

%2F&psig=AFQjCNGO54qqob8EqRrCmkIMxO9o5NsIjw&ust=1470614891216141

“And this invisibility is a guarantee of order.”

Michel Foucault

Among many other things, Foucault was an architectural theorist.

Panopticon-Invisibility of those in power guarantees compliance-Invisibility of fellow prisoners-Ensures that power is always visible in abstract form, never verifiable


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjQ75_isbDOAhUKRCYKHRdfCUwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscience-all.com%2Fdungeon.html&psig=AFQjCNG9ixoJC84vpKyQHXdjnaGyLJHp9w&ust=1470696554944679

Foucault argued that the Panopticon functions opposite to the dungeon, the previous method of imprisonment.

Dungeon = locking away, invisibility of the undesirable Panopticon = publicizing the undesirable


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjTs9H7srDOAhVC4CYKHeLlBBUQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AJail_Cell_NMCP.jpg&psig=AFQjCNEchMBiKY7KOruzE0rgbpZtfRwvRQ&ust=1470696877339456

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mycity-web.com%2Fkatarina-milovanovic%2F&psig=AFQjCNGaGBkJl_INxbwuHMEeKK54v7JNJg&ust=1470697006430502

Control vs Discipline

Note the difference in visibility (child looking directly at cigarette)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mycity-web.com%2Fkatarina-milovanovic%2F&psig=AFQjCNGaGBkJl_INxbwuHMEeKK54v7JNJg&ust=1470697006430502


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjIx8mWsrDOAhUTfiYKHZZrCkUQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imedicalapps.com%2F2012%2F11%2Freview-popular-myfitnesspal-app-fitness%2F&psig=AFQjCNG0146Y4fwq2n6cxt10vMzEWgb0-

A&ust=1470696660976102https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjZtsS0srDOAhVLQSYKHUdGBMYQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F

%2Fhehaseyes.wordpress.com%2Ftag%2Fpedometer%2F&psig=AFQjCNFTSSgl6l9JC7Sn9kMR1TpyuuA7uw&ust=1470696726772968

Private and public

Policing is designed into the app

“Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance […] Behind the

great abstraction of exchange, there continues the meticulous, concrete

training of useful forces […] The individual is carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of

forces and bodies.”

Michel Foucault

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiE_NLm9-7OAhWDFR4KHb74D0wQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Falittlemoresauce.com%2Ftag%2Fmichel-foucault%2F&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNGUZ1HRP544i9vsvtd7IXRNjfl6tg&ust=1472845662732862

Techniques of self (dieting) serve discipline designed into our technologies. Submit to power systems we can’t see.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwivzYbbp7LOAhVBfiYKHTlTA0AQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oneonta.edu%2Ffaculty%2Ffarberas%2Farth%2FARTH214%2Fambassadors_home.html&psig=AFQjCNGLNPJb-

NlSff_JmaSaTtxkhjXVTw&ust=1470762563580062

We’re left with this sense that something exists in our environment that we cannot readily perceive.

Hans Holbein“The Ambassadors”


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dodedans.com%2FEholbein-ambassador.htm&psig=AFQjCNEjZd-x06Uk2891lA8ohuBvlRwrBw&ust=1470762637400146

In Holbein’s case, it was the image of death.



Gaze, Lacan. Anxiety felt when one feels they are being watched, objectified. Foucault also referred to the medical gaze.

Hieronymus Bosch“The Conjurer”

Woman in green is looking at you.



Nest thermostat

2. Solutionism


Solutionism The belief that all problems have easy,

often technological solutions.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjewsiK7u7OAhUGKx4KHTfKDBcQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuYHiE1GX1HI&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNGf09_OBMAyiNDdBVXvwim4U5FfBg&ust=1472843045586497

Evgeny Morozov

Silicon Valley. Does a disservice to the complexity of most issues.

“One could say that nothing conceals the

emergency of the unsustainable more effectively that the

blinding and enduring power of this faith in

technology as salvation.”

Tony Fryhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjY8JXZ7u7OAhULpR4KHY_LAvgQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F

%2Fwww.sd.polyu.edu.hk%2Fen%2Fevent%2Finternational-speaker-series-tony-fry-lecture-workshop&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNEqafTzdx24wCXx0YFhR5nWq0WVyw&ust=1472843183166135


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjy8syqx7fOAhVLfiYKHXlMDFQQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPetnet-SmartFeeder-Automatic-Feeding-iPhone%2Fdp

%2FB010QYTN2K&psig=AFQjCNE_Kl5_BFmxFvS3lTvEEj1lMpyuiQ&ust=1470942836174148

Pet net.Feed pets remotely so you can stay at work.Don’t rely on social relationships and burden your friends. Problem is not about feeding pets, it’s about not being home enough

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiwn5aeybfOAhXQZiYKHTQQDS8QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjohnbiehler.com%2F2012%2F10%2F02%2Ftech-tuesday-bluetooth-gloves-the-lifestraw-water-filter%2F&psig=AFQjCNFIkbCZHlKwH9S-zmbRFEQIzHk8Pg&ust=1470943214743833

Bluetooth glove.

Instead of not being on the phone while outside in cold weather, we designed around it.

Febreeze Home

Instead of cleaning your house, release scent with your phone.


Innovation for innovation’s sake.

The world as material to be hacked at the infrastructural level.

Wasted effort on inconsequential problems.

3. Sustainability


Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signifiers @thomas_wendt https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjJwLnSnq3OAhVDHR4KHTLHAPcQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F

%2Fwww.scifinow.co.uk%2Ftag%2Ffrankenstein%2F&psig=AFQjCNEaifph2LRa28w2E5CUWjUYXi3GAA&ust=1470588321714850

Dr Frankenstein’s sin was not that he manipulated nature, nor that he created a monster. It’s that he failed to love his monster (Latour).

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwit6uKBiMnOAhXHHB4KHfcwBZwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.general-ebooks.com%2Fsearch%2Fmary-wollstonecraft-shelley-frankenstein-or-modern-

prometheus&psig=AFQjCNFQeWkSOMgBoFDemDfGPb2u4yioSQ&ust=1471544339829339

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjirNrIiMnOAhWIVh4KHbj2C78QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fxfilesposterproject.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F131256048400%2Fthe-post-modern-prometheus-episode-102-

instead&psig=AFQjCNHO048U-3WEt_kAIeg3qT_ecG4mXA&ust=1471544486378346


https://aeon.co/essays/innovation-is-overvalued-maintenance-often-matters-more?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f5f6abc3ac-Daily_Newsletter_7_April_20164_4_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-f5f6abc3ac-68898121

We associate design with creation, but sometimes the best design decision are to not create, to maintain what we have.

“An activity is sustainable if it does not damage the capacity of the landbase

to support its members.”

Derrick Jensen

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjvp7G78-7OAhWBJh4KHYZODYIQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.coach.me%2Fderrick-jensen-interview%2F&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNETAFmz2oEOEYwMpWT_FKROYozIIQ&ust=1472844476561644

Because when we create, we need to think about sustainability. Historically, we are not good at that.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi7w6eGl8vOAhUBKB4KHfkqDeQQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fadambemma.com%2F2013%2F04%2F21%2Fthe-proliferation-of-e-waste-in-africa-full-length-documentary

%2F&psig=AFQjCNEfiSgDTYci7I7MAlBTS9_COktU6Q&ust=1471616988180381https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwimnoPq9O7OAhXGqx4KHetEBY4QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ftopic%2Fewaste&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNENHNAFFEgC3-DUfurB9BVqMJx8ug&ust=1472844679082920

Our inability to love our monsters is fundamentally unsustainable


https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjNw_zllsvOAhXIPB4KHeCnBK4QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgreatforest.com%2Fsustainability101%2Fwaste-recycling-composting%2Fmaking-difference-transforming-africas-largest-e-waste-dump-model-recycling-center

%2F&psig=AFQjCNEfiSgDTYci7I7MAlBTS9_COktU6Q&ust=1471616988180381

These are the people who have to deal with the waste products of bad design.

Bad design is not hard to use, but the feral, unloved monsters we have created.

Politics Ecology Conviviality


Being good little designers, you’re all asking “What can we do?”

Ecological Thinking =

How We Dwell


Ecology = the study of dwelling

Not how we exist, but how we thrive and flourish.

Architecture’s concern as well


Tim Morton says ecological thinking is the thinking of the trickster, and Prometheus is one of the most well known tricksters in history.

He used cunning intelligence to take power from the gods.

Designers and IAs are responsible to take back power from corporations and Silicon Valley

Be cunning

Resisting Connection


We’re caught up in an industrial system that demands participation, but our cunning intelligence can provide moments of resistance.

Be cunning

Be critical



Bright and shiny IoT products often begin with borderline slave labor and end in e-waste dumping grounds. Let’s get real about whether this is acceptable.

Be cunning

Be critical

Be political



We all know design is never neutral. Let’s stop acting like it is.

Be cunning

Be critical

Be political

Be co-operative



Fewer architects, more cooperation

Story of De Carlo’s steelworks project

“I choose the term 'conviviality' to designate the opposite of industrial productivity. I intend it to mean autonomous

and creative intercourse among persons, and the intercourse of persons with their environment; and this in contrast with the conditioned response of persons to the

demands made upon them by others, and by a man-made environment. I consider conviviality to be individual

freedom realized in personal interdependence and, as such, an intrinsic ethical value. I believe that, in any society, as conviviality is reduced below a certain level, no amount of industrial productivity can effectively satisfy the needs it

creates among society's members.”

Ivan Illich

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwik0dORr_POAhWDMx4KHcjODEMQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnagasenamenandre.blogspot.com%2F&psig=AFQjCNF8dtF9FVC7Jk1VjqF9yjAfMuwA2w&ust=1472997887148422

Thomas Wendt srsg.co [email protected] @thomas_wendt