In Anyspace? Whatever. creative studio rootoftwo present an architectural-scale installation that reimagines the “smart city” as a site of collective authorship. At its center is a circular pavilion, a modular, open-structure environment designed to host assemblies, workshops, and public dialogue around privacy, governance, and technological rights.
Detail from Anyspace? Whatever, rootoftwo, 2026. Courtesy of the artists.
Visitors are invited into the pavilion’s inner chamber to engage in guided conversations with an AI system, reflecting on their own visions for the future city. These exchanges are re-interpreted and broadcast outward, creating a dynamic interplay between private reflection and public discourse. By foregrounding both visible and hidden infrastructures, the work asks how data, access, and power shape everyday urban experience.
Detail from Anyspace? Whatever, rootoftwo, 2026. Courtesy of the artists.
Extending this inquiry, the exhibition also features 463NCY, a tabletop game that casts players as agents navigating a surveillance-driven city. Through play, participants confront the ethical tensions between autonomy, control, and resistance.
Detail from Anyspace? Whatever, rootoftwo, 2026. Courtesy of the artists.
Drawing on civic theory and Detroit’s legacy as a testing ground for urban futures, the exhibition positions participation, speculation, and co-creation as essential tools for imagining more equitable technological systems.
rootoftwo (Led by Cézanne Charles and John Marshall)
rootoftwo is a research- and practice-driven art, design, and technology studio based in Detroit. Led by Cézanne Charles and John Marshall, they explore under-imagined futures through interaction, participation, humor, and play. rootoftwo creates artifacts, spaces, publications, experiences, and public works. Their work delves into the democratic dilemmas posed by emerging technology. Using participatory design methods, they blend science, technology, and society (STS) with art-making to create visionary projects and critical research. Their contributions to The Routledge Companion to Media and the City (2023) posed questions about the effectiveness of using culture and the arts as mediators for consentful, place-based technology. Notable works include ‘Whithervanes,’ commissioned by Locust Projects, Miami (2018), and Creative Folkestone (2014). rootoftwo were 2025 Rhizome 7×7 participants, are 2023 Creative Capital Awardees for their ‘Anyspace? Whatever.’ project, and 2024 recipients of a Knight New Works grant for 463NCY, a cooperative, digitally-augmented, tabletop game where players navigate the complexities of digital information in a world where privacy is a commodity.
Exhibition Credits
This work was made possible with the support of Creative Capital, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, the US Regional Arts Organizations, and a 2024 Knight New Work Detroit grant, an initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.