Proxy Medium

Malika Sungatulina, Amro Ibrahim, Ömer Gürel

Building upon our prototype concept, we aim to give the public a voice and presence in political debate—to amplify their spatial and atmospheric impact. Our design explores two polar opposite sites that simultaneously influence each other: Civic and Public.

One of the polarities is a public space, representative of the people of Vienna, one that can represent them visually and symbolically. Using this space to host, at varying levels of intimacy, conscious reactions that set atmospherically the stage for political discourse on the other side.

The other site, a sacred civic space, where representatives discuss the welfare of the people they represent. These political discussions would be broadcasted to its opposite—to the public. These political discussions would be broadcast to their opposite—the public. In turn, the public’s reactions would manifest within the Parliament’s debate chamber, creating a digital spatial dialogue—an immersive, fluid entity of reaction, observation, and transformation.

We aim to design a spatial dialogue between these two instances—the way people’s reactions transform space in Parliament and how responses to this transformation are perceived both within Parliament and by the public. Furthermore, we examine the implications of such a tool becoming a medium for protest, entertainment, participation, symbolism, a showcase of misrepresentation, and much more.