This thesis involves four main categories: an exploration of the term ‘microtopia’ and discussion of related works, research on Kamppi Shopping Center as a specific spot for this thesis, research into surveillance issues as a means of exploring microtopia, and, lastly, the installation work I planed, TWO BOXES.
‘Microtopia’ is primarily a term mentioned in a book, “Relational Aesthetics,” written by French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud. The main meaning of the word “microtopia” is that an artist should arrange ideal but realistic moments instead of seeking imaginary and remote utopian realities, which is the strongest notion in this thesis. In addition, because microtopia is based on ‘the public sphere,’ I focused on the public context by studying popular spots in Helsinki. Through this field work, I be- came very interested in ‘Surveillance issues in public space’ because of its ironic characteristics: although the word ‘public’ means ‘general and for all people,’ in reality there are many guards who monitor the flow of people in metro, bus, and train stations, and even in public squares. In that sense, I wish to address the question, ‘Who has the access to enter and who does not?’ I aimed to explore microtopia based on surveillance issues; that is to say, in this thesis, I attempt to identify the ideal level of surveillance. Based on the two keywords ‘microtopia’ and ‘surveillance,’ a partici- patory installation, TWO BOXES, was planned in Kamppi Shopping Center in order to explore the concept of microtopia. I will illustrate how the concept and details of TWO BOXES arose and dis- cuss in detail its implementation in Kamppi Shopping center. In the conclusion, I share the feed- back that I received from participants, discuss the drawbacks of the project, and give ideas for future work based on the findings.
In order to avoid confusion on the part of readers, I should mention that, although my major is Spatial Design, which is largely related to architecture and interior design, I am actually more in- terested in conceptual and intangible spaces than physically touchable and logical ones. For this reason, this thesis is written in a conceptual and artistic way. Furthermore, for the same reason, I want to present the ‘moving and changing’ characteristics of space in terms of social interventions
