URBAN MIRROR is a metaphor for the balance between the individual and the public, one’s ‘self’ and the innate need to be part of society, the liminal space between control and convenience.
Today’s cities are not only physical spaces. These places of power or, in other words, public spaces which impact our way of life, are bound tightly to the Internet. A user’s experience of these spaces is intertwined with the reality. While it’s important to consider the nature of our physical presence in a place, it is equally important to reveal the facets of the digital spaces which run in parallel. These realities are interrelated and reflect each other. The cityscape is changing, and people’s mindsets are changing with it. We adapt to new urban conditions and requirements. Everyone is in a permanent state of observation, complicit in its pervasiveness and innured to its ubiquity.

According to Rob Kitchin, we are becoming more trusting of the surveillance system. For example, users of social networks are used to their data being used for advertising campaigns, so they no longer flag the issue.
Although the line between control and convenience remains undefined, it has already been accepted as the new paradigm of being, at least in urban spaces. An individual still wants to retain independence, but a huge part of their life is given to social networks. Posting geotagged pictures indicates one’s connection with society, and with certain places in the city. This declares, and sometimes determines, our allegiances to a certain lifestyle.

People are all too willing to publish photos of themselves on the Internet. However, we do not often see ourselves in the urban environment. The image of our own face in the mirror still remains personal, and, therefore, unexpected in the public space. Mirrors in this installation are arranged like the compound vision of a honeycomb. It reminds us of a person’s connection to a wider society, and in one’s reflection, a certain association may become apparent with a collective intelligence - a hivemind.