
Deception, concealment, camouflage. Nature's numerous examples of disguising as a strategy to survive have provided humankind with plenty of inspiration for military unobtrusiveness throughout history. Today, disguise appeals as a way to protect one's private life in the City with Eyes. In a time when monitoring and surveillance systems are increasingly pervasive, Monica Hutton reflects on concealment strategies that are being developed, and which agencies they can deploy as part of complex urban ecologies.
What happens when the sensor-imbued city acquires the ability to see – almost as if it had eyes? Ahead of the 2019 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), titled "Urban Interactions," ArchDaily is working with the curators of the "Eyes of the City" section at the Biennial to stimulate a discussion on how new technologies – and Artificial Intelligence in particular – might impact architecture and urban life. Here you can read the “Eyes of the City” curatorial statement by Carlo Ratti, the Politecnico di Torino and SCUT.
The evolution of disguise in design can be discussed as a socio-natural response to emerging technological scenarios. Decentralized infrastructure distributed throughout cities and peripheries continues to change the way individuals and groups view the city, and how the city views us. There is an expanding presence of devices that actively view, collect, share, and process data related to our everyday activities. In a world that is increasingly monitored, and arguably more transparent, innovations to remain discrete, unobtrusive, and hidden are emerging. Design strategies to disguise technological devices or subjects have become more sophisticated. In turn, this is altering the legibility of urban space. At times it is difficult to decipher and easy to be deceived. Camouflage that occurs naturally across species has long been a source of ecological study. Over time it has influenced designs that blend and mimic the appearance and form of other elements in the environment. The following aims to articulate the relationship between cross-species bodies and urban space as simultaneously natural and human-made. It examines how disguise is used as a tool of power and resistance, drawing on examples of groups and individuals who are deploying, responding to and re-appropriating technology to conceal objects, themselves, and others. These evolving design practices, and rising creativity support speculation on the future blending between nature and culture.
