For the launch of Nokia’s N900 handset, we were asked to design a series of window displays in derelict shops around London with the tag line ‘Connecting people, connecting places’.

The N900 was Nokia’s attempt to create an open source, hackable phone to differentiate themselves from Apple’s closed, controlled systems. We wanted to build on this hackable infrastructure to re-interpret the way we communicate through smart phones.

By flattening social-interaction into a screen, we become more but not better conected. Our interactions become sterile experiences with little or no tactile or emotional qualities.

We thought these technologies could be used to create a more tangible, human experiences so we designed real-world interpretations of popular social networks that we called physical apps. The three performative machines correspond to Twitter, Facebook and Spotify and embody the potential of the N900 to connect the physical and digital worlds.

The acapella stop-motion animation was created to communicate the core values of the project.