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AMBIENT SCREENS
Transnational Public Spaces
and AMBIENT SCREENS
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“Ambient Screens and Transnational Public Spaces is a provocative interdisciplinary M
collection that studies public screens in diverse urban contexts ranging from Shanghai
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Transnational Public Spaces
to Montreal. Taken together, these essays redefi ne commonly held notions about
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cultural policy, information, citizenship, and the quotidian experiences of the Media City. E
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A must read for anyone interested in urban media studies and cultural planning.”
—Janine Marchessault, Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, York University T
Edited by
S Nikos Papastergiadis
“Large screens in public spaces are almost taken for granted in some cities, while in
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others, they are barely present. This fascinating book provokes new thinking about
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mediatization as a transformative dimension of urban life. The editor and authors
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deserve to be congratulated for a welcome and timely volume, demonstrating how
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large screens in cities transform public spaces and become a platform for new modes
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of cultural exchange.”
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—Lily Kong, Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences,
Singapore Management University an
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Large public screens have now become a ubiquitous part of the contemporary a
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cityscape. Far from being simply oversized televisions, the media experts contributing s 235
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to Ambient Screens and Transnational Public Spaces put forward a strong case that such m
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screens could serve as important sites for cultural exchange. ti
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Advances in digital technology spell the possibilities of conducting mobile modes n
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of interaction across national boundaries, and in the process expose the participants to
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novel sensory experiences, giving rise to a new form of public culture. Understanding P
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this phenomenon calls for a reconceptualization of “public space” and “ambience,” as b
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well as connecting the two concepts with each other. This pioneering study of the impact ic
of media platforms on urban cultural life presents a theoretical analysis and a history of S
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screens, followed by discussions of site-specifi c urban screen practices on fi ve continents.
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There is also a substantial examination of the world’s fi rst real-time cross-cultural
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exchange via the networking of large public screens located in Melbourne and Seoul. s
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Nikos Papastergiadis is professor i
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of media and communication at the o
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University of Melbourne. Cultural Studies / Media Studies P E
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Cover photograph by Pedro Szekely. a ed
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Printed and bound in Hong Kong, China s
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Ambient Screens and
Transnational Public Spaces
Ambient Screens and
Transnational Public Spaces
Edited by Nikos Papastergiadis
Hong Kong University Press
Th e University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
www.hkupress.org
© 2016 Hong Kong University Press
ISBN 978-988-8208-92-0 (Hardback)
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any infor-
mation storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound by Hang Tai Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments viii
Prelude x
Facet One: Mediatization 1
Chapter 1 Introduction: Screen Cultures and Public Spaces 3
Nikos Papastergiadis, Amelia Barikin, Scott McQuire,
and Audrey Yue
Facet Two: Large Screen Projects: A Dossier 29
Chapter 2 Walls, Attractions, and Media: An Archaeology of Public
Visual Displays 31
Erkki Huhtamo
Chapter 3 Big Screens, Little Acts: Transformations in the Structures
and Operations of Public Address 49
Justin Clemens, Christopher Dodds, and Adam Nash
Chapter 4 Shanghai’s Public Screen Culture: Local and Coeval 59
Chris Berry
Chapter 5 Defi ning the Public in Piccadilly Circus 81
Sean Cubitt
Chapter 6 Digital Public Infrastructures for Creative Communities:
Th e Case of the Quartier des Spectacles 95
Claude Fortin, Kate Hennessy, and Carman Neustaedter
Chapter 7 Th e Inside/Outside Equation: Building Skins and Screens 113
Gary Gumpert and Susan J. Drucker
Facet Th ree: Large Screens and the Transnational Public Sphere 129
Chapter 8 Mobile Methods and Large Screens 131
Nikos Papastergiadis, Amelia Barikin, Xin Gu, Scott McQuire,
and Audrey Yue
vi Contents
Facet Four: Ambient Screens 209
Chapter 9 Conclusion: Ambient Screens 211
Nikos Papastergiadis, Amelia Barikin, and Scott McQuire
Glossary 239
List of Contributors 243
Index 246
Illustrations
Figure 1: Text-based information screens in Shanghai. 72
Figure 2: Text-based public screen in an inner-city neighborhood of
Shanghai. 72
Figure 3: Blackboard with illustration and text message greeting people
at the entranceway to a traditional Shanghai lilong (里弄)
housing compound in the Yangpu District. 75
Figure 4: Th e basic model used by the Quartier des Spectacles to provide
interactivity on the entire site. 103
Figure 5: View of Melbourne City Square 1976–80 with the world’s fi rst
large screen for cultural content in action. 140
Figure 6: World Cup at Federation Square, Melbourne. 146
Figure 7: Come Join Us, Mr. Orwell! Large screen at the launch of
Tomorrow City, Seoul. 163
Figure 8: Large screen at Federation Square, Melbourne, displays mapping
of family origins in SMS_Origins project. 169
Figure 9: Large screen displays keywords in Korean and English for the
<Value> project. 170
Figure 10: Large screen at Federation Square displaying the HELLO project
with instructions on how to participate and a real-time Skype
screen display of participants from Korea at the bottom left of
the screen. 177
Figure 11: Participants from Melbourne copying dance movements from
their Korean counterparts via Skype for HELLO. 179
Figure 12: Inside the tent for HELLO showing the stage, cameras, screen,
and backstage. 180
Acknowledgments
Th is book was conceived as part of the Australian Research Council Linkage project:
Large Screens and the Transnational Public Spheres. Th e project was led by a multi-
disciplinary research team including Nikos Papastergiadis, Scott McQuire, Audrey
Yue, Meredith Martin, and Xin Gu from University of Melbourne; Amelia Barikin
from University of Queensland; Ross Gibson from University of Sydney; Cecelia
Cmielewski from University of Western Australia; and Matt Jones from Federation
Square.
We would like to thank the following organizations and individuals for their con-
tribution to this project:
Australian Research Council: Project funding
University of Melbourne: Project administration
Australia Council for the Arts: Ongoing support
Federation Square and Art Center Nabi: Research and substantive support
Th omas Dawe and Andy Stratton (Federation Square): Research technical
development
Mike Gibbons (Formidable Productions): Knowledge on screen developments in
the United Kingdom
Ricardo Peach (independent cultural consultant): Contribution via the Portal
Project
Donald Bates (University of Melbourne and LAB Architecture Studio): Ongoing
research engagement
Th e fi nal stages of editing this book were greatly assisted by the diligent work of
Daniella Trimboli.
Th e following people attended the Large Screen Symposium and also contributed
valuable knowledge to the project:
Damien Blythe (City of Perth)
Sarah Dugdale and Grissel Walmaggia (City of Greater Dandenong)
Glenn Harding (Urban Screen Productions)
Acknowledgments ix
Matthias Haeusler (University of New South Wales)
Corbett Lyon (Lyons Architecture)
Jenny Mizuik and Jonathan Parsons (Experimenta)
Christian (Bong)
Ramilo (Darwin Community Arts)
Paul Shea (City of Port Phillip)
Helen Simondson and Sarah Tutton (Australian Centre for the Moving Image
[ACMI])
Lubi Th omas (Queensland University of Technology)
Tim Williams (Timothy Williams and Associates)
