Invisibles
Political and artistic signing – revealing the urban invisible
Our urban ecosystem is filled with little known or ignored facts, imperceptible phenomena, illegal practices, or practices that are unlisted by official organisations and institutions. The chantier “Invisibles” aims to render the urban invisible perceptible.
Invisible particles (CO2, digital waves, electromagnetic waves, noise...); consciously or unconsciously ignored social practices (the presence of homeless people often deprived of the attention of others, groups of young people involved in illegal practices, parallel markets…); or unofficial urban borders, the presence of surveillance cameras… The presence of “invisible” elements has a durable effect on the practices which operate in a territory.
With the supportof scientists and members of the associative network, a graphic design collective will closely examine the territory of the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris. Its mission is to reveal these silent practices and render the invisible elements perceptible by localising them with informative pictograms.
This set of signs will be arranged throughout the Cité site and was devised according to four levels of information:
- citizens’ information: subjects of social debate (pollution, the presence of surveillance cameras, electromagnetic waves...)
- parallel circuits: communities and invisible practices – indicating certain sites and social practices
- green circuit / sustainable development: act local, think global
- circulation and invisible borders.
The signs will also punctuate the circuit proposed during the SmartCity conference on Tuesday 30th September.
For a more widespread and perennial use of this information, a “citizen’s intervention kit” has also been produced. The pictograms were produced under the Creative Commons licence and will be available for free download on the Internet. Thus, all of us will be able to index our territory and reveal its particles and invisible elements…