#non-place

taking the train, moving up and down, action deferred at mid-way stops. this cafè is a non-place. the waitress has just left us all alone, s and i silently stare at each other. i want a space for us to settle in, to keep all of our books in, to work all night, and to rest all day if we please.

Non-lieu ("non-place" or "nonplace" in English) is a concept, introduced by French anthropologist Marc Augé. It describes transient spaces where people maintain anonymity and which lack the cultural or historical significance to be considered true "places" in anthropological terms. Augé contrasts this concept with "anthropological places," which are spaces that reinforce identity and facilitate meaningful social interactions among individuals with shared cultural references. Non-places, however, do not serve as meeting points or foster a sense of community. In essence, a non-place is an area we pass through rather than inhabit, where individuals remain detached, unnamed, and lonely.

The (TITLE) NON-PLACE is a book based on the theory of non-places which was coined by the French anthropologist, Marc Augé. The idea behind the book was that place and non-place are co-existing—there isn't a space that can be coined just a 'place' or a 'non-place'. The book is divided into two main sections: the ‘physical non-place’ and the ‘digital non-place', giving examples of place and non-places co-existing in the physical and digital space. Typefaces, colors, and other design decisions were deliberately made to be deadpan, which reflects the loss of identity in a non-place. The addition of the slight tilting of page numbers, section breaks, and the rectangle behind pull quotes were used to express the ambiguity of how a space can be both described as a place or a non-place.

A new book from my mentor Jim Brogden, can’t wait to read it... out on Palgrave early next year

Love (or Ghosts of a Non-Place) is an interactive performance and exhibition, whose attempt is to trace through the narratives, acts, images and sounds the existential stigma of the concept of love, taking place in the heart of Athens, Bageion building in Omonia Square. Its visual identity works as a parallel: evolution, re-order in terms of time as well as spatial relativities, in an attempt to connect the intermediate, ephemeral and porous character of Omonia Square, a place that hardly creates stops and relations. — The Birthdays Design, Athens

backstage

part of the dead space series, photos of the local car parking space adjacent to Thornbury station taken on an iPhone 4