Travels in Hyperraility
The foundational WWTC investigation. Ten chronological phases examining how Warsaw stages itself for temporary residents, using Baudrillardian frameworks to decode cultural simulation through pure hyperreality, with a twist.
Each zone required multiple walks to understand its performance patterns. Zone 1 (South West) staged heritage and reconstruction. Zone 2 performed post-war recovery. Zone 3 balanced communist-era housing with contemporary development. Zones 4-6 showed neighbourhoods that largely ignore the tourist narrative entirely. The methodology worked because it forced systematic coverage rather than cherry-picking interesting areas. You can't claim to understand a city's performance if you only walk the parts designed to be walked. The circular protocol ensured comprehensive documentation - even the boring parts, especially the boring parts, because that's where the performance stops and the city just runs.
The displacement advantage: you're constantly debugging the city's interface while long-term residents run on autopilot. When you can't find something obvious, that's data about wayfinding design. When a cultural assumption fails, that's evidence of what the city assumes about who belongs. Six weeks was the minimum viable timeframe. Week one is disorientation. Weeks 2-3 develop initial patterns. Weeks 4-5 allow deeper observation. Week six synthesises findings. Any shorter and you're still just a tourist with opinions. Any longer and you start to naturalise what should remain visible. Sustained residency as methodological sweet spot.
The investigation documented how different zones stage authenticity differently. The Old Town performs reconstruction as authenticity. Praga performs grittiness as authenticity. New developments perform modernity as authenticity. Each zone has a different relationship to what it claims to be. Understanding this required sustained presence. Week one, the Old Town feels fake. Week three, you stop caring whether it's "real." Week six, you recognise that the question itself is the wrong framework. The city performs itself. The performance is what you encounter. There's nothing behind the staging to authenticate against.
