Invisible Landscapes: Home (Act I)

Today, digital technologies are often presented as the ultimate solution for cooperating and living in a globalised world, connecting people and places, and making our landscapes and actions more efficient. However, the use of these new technologies also raises questions of privacy, security, sustainability, health and dependency, creating radical transformations in the relationship between people and the environments they inhabit as well as the boundaries between humans and technology.

Invisible Landscapes will make visible the often-invisible presence of digital technologies in our lives and everyday environments. From the home to the city, the Royal Academy will invite practice-based researchers to present new work through three interconnected acts. Their installations will address how architecture can respond and engage with emerging contemporary issues around technology, and suggest new ways of being, belonging and living.

Barcelona-based architecture practice MAIO explores the impact of smart technologies, sharing economy platforms and apps on domestic spaces and how these may be altering the meaning of home. In their installation, MAIO explores how these digital technologies respond to changing economic and social conditions, redefining contemporary domesticity and questioning how architects will operate in this context. They present the home as not simply an isolated space but part of a wider system where the boundaries between public and private, urban and domestic spheres are blurred.