Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It's the only way to live in cars

-Gary Newman, "In Cars"

Jesse Fabian / Brian Diesel / Orkan Telhan / Dirk Pfeifer/ Adam Halstead       -> click on the images to see short movie clips Dirk Pfeifer: RGB vibrator. A seat that massages you according to the landscape you drive through. Jesse Fabian: Katzenkatze and Duze. Soft toys that collect image and vibrational travel data and relay it to a base station. Adam Halstead: Dashboard sculpture The automobile and its passengers are a premier site in which to critically investigate the promise and failure of gadgetry in our lives. In North America the automobile ['the car'] and the road trip are hybrid beings. Geared for efficiency the car is also a premier vehicle for personal experience far beyond utility. Even in the age of fast travel, 'the road trip' holds strong powers over anyone contemplating to cross the continent. And now this potent mix of utility and pleasure is changing radically under the influence of electronic data manipulation. As some current television shows, such as "Pimp My Ride" prove, the role of the automobile as an identification machine that "transforms rides and lives" is most apparent when automobiles are manipulated far beyond any utility factor; not unlike plastic surgery enhancement for human beings. This inquiry is concerned with the spaces cars create but do not actively acknowledge. It is about the spaces that the plethora of electronic gadgets, some for control and security, some for pleasure create in their wake. After all reasonable orientation needs have been met, what does the compass displaying due West actually do to one's sense of travel; and how might the road trip change when an automobile's trajectory can be recorded in greater detail than our memory can register? If the automobile is here to stay, the time we waste in traffic jams had better reconsidered. >> IEEE Pervasive Computing Dec 2005 has a report on this work. Short bibliography M. Auge, Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Verso Books, 1995 J. Beckmann, Mobility and Safety, Theory Culture Society, October 1, 2004; 21(4-5): 81 - 100. M. Bull, Automobility and the Power of Sound, Theory Culture Society, October 1, 2004; 21(4-5): 243 - 259. D. Gartman, Three Ages of the Automobile: The Cultural Logics of The Car, Theory Culture Society, October 1, 2004; 21(4-5): 169 - 195. M. Michael, The Invisible Car: The Cultural Purification of Road Rage, pp. 59-80 in Daniel Miller (ed.) Car Cultures. Oxford: Berg. 2001 J. Meyrowitz, No Sense of Place. The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986 H. Moorhouse, Driving Ambitions: An Analysis of the American Hot Rod Enthusiasm. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1991 J. Motovalli, DRIVING; Check Your Engine! And Never Mind Why, New York Times, Published: January 17, 2003 M. Sheller, Automotive Emotions: Feeling the Car, Theory Culture Society, October 1, 2004; 21(4-5): 221 - 242.