Seen in San Diego this week. A near-field interaction device, aimed at being contactless... but the patina clearly indicates some contact traces. This pictures shows the paradox between the sort of interaction we are expected to have in the city of the near future (contactless?) and past practices (contact). Moreover, the patina also reveals the messiness of technologies and the inevitable presence of dirt at some point. Digital is physical to some extent.
Traces of contact in a contactless interaction
in Urban