sous-demographics

Demographics are the overall statistical characteristics of a population. Opposite to this definition is the demographics of an individual, the specific ‘interface’ of interactions that one undergoes in day-to-day life. Taking its name from the idea of sousveillance, a surveilling done from 'below' and counter to the top-down power relation that surveillance is imbricated in, sous-demographics is the conceptualizing of these personal spheres of activity that are present inside a larger public arena, and the specific documentation of these micro-demographics that form within these spheres.

While the city is a diverse, multivalent place, it also has the capability to be second-order diverse: to enable a meta-heterogeneity that allows for an altogether homogeneous experience of the city. The demographics of an individual citygoer is composed not from an overall satellite’s-eye view of the city, but from the thin tunnel of spaces he or she burrows through in everyday life; this very specific and self-curated experience is more often than not incongruous with the overall demographics of the city.