Personal Lenses

In The Poetics of Augmented Space, Lev Manovich describes the effects and methods of the augmentation of space, which he defines as “overlaying dynamic data over the physical space.” There is no question of whether or not we should do this; as he describes, it is already happening. When we access the internet on our cellphones, or view a video display in an airport or museum, or enjoy our house’s intelligently-adjusted temperature: these are interactions with an augmented space. The four basic dimensions we’re used to interacting with are no longer special, just an arbitrary subset of those available to the visitor of an augmented space.

As Manovich describes, modernist architecture tends towards the blank and the white; intentionally unnoticeable spaces that give priority to the other dimensions. When we’re more able to augment our lives with video overlays (“Augmented Reality”) our buildings and public spaces will be ready. Rather than embracing Venturi’s concretization of a particular interpretation of culture, we should embrace the idea that each of us views the world with a particular lens. We certainly do; our technology already enables us to do so; why not should we bring our desktop themes and browser customizations into the real world?

My world is already heavily augmented, some by technology created by others, some by technology created by myself and for myself. I welcome a world that says less by default and allows for greater customization by the individual. Manovich paints a beautiful picture of a dizzying number of planes of existence, all simultaneously everywhere and nowhere, contained in the augmented space. Instead of visiting a technology in a particular location (our desks, our pockets) mobile technology will allow us to augment every space in which we live or pass through.