Non-Place — 2020

Non-place: Anthropological spaces of transience that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as places.

Non-places are spaces of transit such as airports, hotels and asylum camps. They are characterised by the permanency of transience—with homogenous architecture and a strange mix of ‘the camp’ (surveillance, control, exclusivity) and ‘the spectacle’ (VIP lounges, luxury shops, media saturation).

The non-place is purified and pacified, devoid of any distinctive markings that link it to the geography or culture of the world outside its walls, except for the locals that clean and service it. It is populated by people who’s identity is irrelevant: reduced to the label of consumer, citizen, terrorist, or frequent flyer.

This publication is designed to reflect the delocalised, homogenous nature of the non-place—which acts as a canvas for the complexities of human life and politics to play out within. The publication’s style exists in the world of the non-place as described in the text. The inevitable human presence, and local labour essential to maintaining the purified non-place is represented by fields populated with handwriting.

‘Baring Life and Lifestyle in the Non-Place’ by Sarah Sharma
Published in Cultural Studies (2009)

Publication Design & Illustration