Who is in control in a smart city?
Archetypes of a Smart City
Rio de Janeiro is one of the most visible sites of “smart city” experimentation. In response to catastrophic natural disasters, calamitous traffic congestion, and urban health epidemics, the Centro de Operações Rio (COR) was designed as a corrective tool and as a new command and control hub that would allow the city to prepare for the 2016 Olympic Games. Launched in 2010, COR now monitors its urban camera network and information sensors, gauges optimal traffic patterns, determines landslide risk zones, predicts weather disruptions, and maps disease paths.
Systems of Control Made Visible
The exhibition shows Rio structured through COR’s control syntax and smart city command processes. This syntax is assembled from seemingly banal “if-then” statements that become surprisingly charged by their encounters with the political and circulatory life of the city. Through COR, the exhibition sees traffic engineering as urban politics and as haunted by potential catastrophe. The exhibition also understands COR as indicative of an important new space of representation for the 21st century city and its emerging computational governmentality.
My Role
I managed exhibition production and public programs for the project. I assisted in the design and implementation of the multichannel video system, installation, and fabrication.
Original Spatial Sound Design
Additionally, I composed original spatial sound design and installed a 16 channel multichannel playback system that rumbled the entire model of the city.
Presentation & Recognition
Exhibited in 2016 at Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and in 2017 at Storefront for Art and Architecture (New York, USA). The project was recognized by The Architect’s Newspaper, METALOCUS, and others, spurring support for a third iteration of the project in Songdo, Korea.
Partnerships
Control Syntax Rio was presented as part of City Forces, a year-long joint cultural crossover program between Storefront for Art and Architecture and Het Nieuwe Instituut, supported by the Dutch Culture USA program of the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. The program seeks to examine the relationships of power between those involved in the construction of the contemporary city through a series of events, exhibitions, and projects to be developed in New York, Rotterdam, and other cities around the world.
Special exhibition support for Control Syntax Rio is generously provided by Samsung and FoyerLive.
Project Credits & Information
- Project type
- Exhibition
- Partner
- Storefront for Art & Architecture, Het Nieuwe Instituut
- Agency
- —
- Role
- Program Direction, Exhibition Production, Technical Direction, Sound Design
- Credits
- Organized by the Storefront Team and Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam. Production: Maximilian Lauter. Curators: Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Mark Wasiuta. Exhibition Design: Sharif Anous, Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Mark Wasiuta. Graphic Design: MTWTF. Spatial Sound Design & Installation: Michael Christopher, Maximilian Lauter (Sonic Platforms). Installation photography: Miguel de Guzman.
- Website
- Storefront — Control Syntax Rio
- Date
- 2016 – 2017 (multiple phases)
