I had this vision a few years ago when I was in Montreal. The subway in Montreal felt more depressing than in Berlin. The weather. The lighting. The architecture. And together all of it the people.
It wasn't uncommon for everybody to be looking at their phone during their ride. Up until this time I'd spent very little time in urban areas so I always found people who habitually looked at their phones as some type of underclass of people.
Taking the subway everyday in Montreal for a week was enough for me to realize that my way of thinking would soon be antiquated... wait no was already antiquated! I could see the future in those subway cars of Montreal. This is how everybody would be soon in the future. From large cities to the suburbs. I can't tell you explicitly why I felt this. I can only describe to you the aesthetics that made me think this.
Something about disconnection and dehumanization. Real people riding these steel cars. Steel cars running based on a system. Advertisements on the walls of actors who were not these people. The void outside the windows as the cars passed through tunnels. Lights along the wall that would cut through this void intermittently. If you lived a life where you took the subway everyday, how could you not end up turning to look at your phone. There was something just more interesting... and more importantly humane inside the phone. Something more humane than this steel car.
It wasn't uncommon for everybody to be looking at their phone during their ride. Up until this time I'd spent very little time in urban areas so I always found people who habitually looked at their phones as some type of underclass of people.
Taking the subway everyday in Montreal for a week was enough for me to realize that my way of thinking would soon be antiquated... wait no was already antiquated! I could see the future in those subway cars of Montreal. This is how everybody would be soon in the future. From large cities to the suburbs. I can't tell you explicitly why I felt this. I can only describe to you the aesthetics that made me think this.
Something about disconnection and dehumanization. Real people riding these steel cars. Steel cars running based on a system. Advertisements on the walls of actors who were not these people. The void outside the windows as the cars passed through tunnels. Lights along the wall that would cut through this void intermittently. If you lived a life where you took the subway everyday, how could you not end up turning to look at your phone. There was something just more interesting... and more importantly humane inside the phone. Something more humane than this steel car.
