#kalasatama: Discursive Views of the Helsinki Landscape Through the Virtual Window

Abstract

The article explores the relationship between the user, smartphone, and landscape as part of everyday social practices, proposing that the screen and camera of the smartphone co-constructs our understanding of the landscape. Focusing on encounters with the Helsinki landscape through the practice of making, sharing, and viewing images I examine the relationship between user—smartphone—landscape in understanding the new Helsinki landscape. I look at these landscapes in the context of the changes wrought on the Helsinki skyline by the construction of the tall towers at Kalasatama. Kalasatama is a suburb to the east of Helsinki’s city centre. It was previously an industrial area with a small port and is currently being developed as both a commercial and residential space. I argue that the perception of these landscapes can be seen as co-constructed through the practices of making, sharing, and viewing images, as they have become embedded into the everyday through a state of perpetual connectivity. Using postphenomenology and philosophy of technology I reflect upon the place of the smartphone in the phenomena of experience and the embeddedness of image-making within contemporary social practices.