More about telematics

Modern transport and telecommunications are a result of technological development that fundamentally influences our lives. This includes effects of globalisation, of the complex planetary network that connects all societies today via distribution of information, goods and people. All this is dry and abstract knowledge. Our lives fundamentally change as a result of these technologies while at the same time we become able to attain this global perspective. Environmentalist René Dubos summarises this “We are becoming planetized probably almost as fast as the planet is becoming humanised.” (Dubos in Brand, 1999, 144) <PW: Where do you see this happening, what does it mean? We can speculate that perhaps the Radiomap experience succeeds because participants bring this tacit knowledge already with them, as maps and radio are culturally ingrained. Radiomap is a different type of approach towards telematic arts emphasising the role of the participant as that of an active observer - and not involving him or her in remote communication. The cultural exploration is vivid and embodied and the spatial properties of the local space change. The telematic set-up creates a space where to an extent there is coming here while participants stay aware of their bodies, aware of the situation.