http://www.superflux.in/work/uninvited-guests
Thomas, aged 70, lives on his own after his wife died last year. His children send him smart devices to track and monitor his diet, health and sleep from a distance. But Thomas has always been fiercely independent, happy to live in an organised mess. He struggles with the order and rules imposed on him by the objects that are meant to make his life easier. In a world where ’smart objects’ will increasingly be used to provide care at a distance, how will we live with these uninvited guests?
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Uninvited Guests was created by Superflux Lab for the ThingTank project.
ThingTank is a research consortium exploring new territories in the domestic space where ‘things’ begin to have enough agency to not just communicate with each other, but also interpret the ‘needs’ of humans in the room and primitively design services in response to those ‘needs’. We were commissioned to explore proposals that show the tensions this might present, specifically within the ‘connected home’ construct.
We began our research by raising some key questions:
1. As physical objects in the home become embedded with increasing smartness and autonomy, what relationships do we form with them? 2. What role does human agency play in a world where mundane objects and environments begin to gain a level of agency and autonomy? 3. How will smart objects and devices influence the rhythms and routines of our lives, and ours to theirs, and how will this in turn change our cultures, beliefs and preferences?
