Shopping and well, more shopping

This is a blast from the past - 2 years to be exact. Thought I would post my MFA thesis statement. I should have a link to my multimedia thesis project in the near future. Enjoy!

Watching television is the most popular activity in America. Shopping is second, yet in terms of public activity, it ranks first. Most shopping occurs in malls and big-box,suburban shopping centers. The mall replicates and replaces downtown as the physical and social focus of civic life. Malls embody urban characteristics yet they exist within a suburban context. These spaces react to the suburbs while embracing the idealized memory of Main Street. This condition blurs the notion of urban and suburban space. Thus, it creates an in-between, or liminal, condition. Liminal spaces slip between public and private and define a new, entirely different spatial experience. This thesis explores the aspect of control within this liminal condition and questions the assumptions we make when we shop in suburban malls.

The thesis begins with how one is controlled within a mall. Because the essence of a mall is control, how does this experience effect the physical environment of mall space? Malls are very calculated and scientific systems characterized by parallels to television. In this new medium, social and public activities seemingly thrive. But by controlling what one can say, do or see (no skate boarders or homeless people) the mall removes baggage common to the "real" downtown. Though shoppers feel safe and secure in this environment, they have ceded many liberties to participate in this new collective.

Shopping is interpreted as an activity where the consumer has the freedom to choose. Yet in a mall space consumers actually forgo freedoms so they may participate in the collective act of shopping. Designers fabricate physical and mental landscapes scientifically calculated to simultaneously increase sales and experience a false sense of freedom. This paradox is graphically explored in this thesis as control.

Mapping is an excellent way to understand this "control" space. Understanding the underlying structure of a mall evokes the intent of the mall designers. Maps create wonderful interfaces for humans to see and react to the environment. This project maps both the physical and the experiential aspects of the mall by recalling the literal and conceptual notions of liminal space. Within each piece, the user has the freedom to make decisions (as one does when shopping in the mall), yet one must follow the structure dictated by the piece. Especially in the digital interface, the concept of the mall is experienced in a larger context (like television). Because consumers experience a barrage of images and information while shopping inside the mall, the interactive medium solicits the user to experience similar shifts of perception of time and space. The clicking between screens and sections mimics the clicking of the remote control: a monotonous and mind numbing experience. Shopping in a mall space is akin to experiencing television in the third dimension. Here, in the liminal fog of what is real and not-real, controlled and free, is the essence of my thesis.

***COPYRIGHT 2003*** BY THE AUTHOR