Act II’s frantic cascade of notification bubbles, overlaid with policy excerpts, visualizes the relentless extraction of personal data. The split‑screen technique mirrors the duality of the device: a personal object on one side, a data‑harvesting instrument on the other. The pixelated visual distortion represents the “blurred” awareness many users have about what is being captured.
Following PublicAgent’s release, a wave of creators began to adopt “pocket‑centric” installations: kinetic sculptures that react to the magnetic field of a phone in a pocket, and AR experiences that only trigger when a device is physically withdrawn from a garment. This indicates that “Present In The Pocket” opened a conceptual niche that blurs the boundary between the body’s clothing and its digital extensions. PublicAgent - Present In The Pocket.mp4
The audio track is a carefully constructed soundscape that blends three layers: Act II’s frantic cascade of notification bubbles, overlaid
These layers are mixed so that the synthetic pulse is most audible during the second act, symbolizing the “heartbeat” of the pocket’s constant connectivity. In the final act, the pulse fades, leaving only the ambient noise, suggesting a return to the “outside world” beyond the pocket. These layers are mixed so that the synthetic
The work is frequently referenced in discussions of “proxemic media,” a term coined by media theorist Jussi Parikka to describe technologies that occupy the immediate bodily space of the user. By foregrounding the pocket—a historically mundane yet now technologically loaded zone—PublicAgent offers a concrete case study for the theory.