Abstract
Marc Augé introduces the concept of “non-places” to describe transient, anonymous environments such as airports, highways, and shopping malls—spaces of circulation and consumption that lack historical, relational, or identity-based significance. Contrasted with anthropological places, which support stable social interactions and shared meaning, non-places have proliferated in the era of “supermodernity,” a condition shaped by globalization, hypermobility, and information excess. These environments, while facilitating efficiency, foster disconnection and depersonalization. However, Jacques Tati’s film Playtime (1967) gestures toward utopian possibilities that emerge from within these very spaces. This paper introduces the concept of counter non-places to describe sites of spontaneous human interaction and communal disruption that momentarily subvert the logic of abstraction and control. I ask: How does Playtime visually and narratively construct counter non-places, and what utopian possibilities do these transformative disruptions reveal within supermodern urban space? To answer this, I first draw on Marc Augé, Henri Lefebvre, and Gilles Deleuze to examine the abstract space and societies of control underpinning non-places and the issues of spatial power they reveal. I then turn to Fredric Jameson, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Pierre Bourdieu to explore how counter non-places open space for collective spontaneity, shared joy, and subversive imagination, offering utopian critique and alternative vision. By theorizing counter non-places through Playtime, this paper offers a critical framework that reconsiders urban cinematic space, highlighting its potential for temporary social inscriptions and resistance to spatial power. It contributes to broader conversations in critical cartography, film studies, spatial studies, and utopian thought.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Non-place, Playtime, Abstraction, Control, Utopia, Subversive Imagination, Supermodernity, Urban space
