GHOST CITY

Since the beginning of civilization, cities have utilized the same
basic structure:
a working convergence of private homes and public
spaces. All cities serve as inanimate containers for dynamic human
life and, within their design, as effective conduits for the exchange
of information and commerce. In 1985, Czech philosopher Vilém Flusser wrote an essay called Phantom City in which he predicted a time when the urban landscape would be transformed by an information revolution. The balance
of public and private would cease to exist. When citizens no longer need to rely on cities for economic and cultural exchange, the globe would be populated with isolated homes connected by cables and
satellites. Having outlived their purpose, cities would become
abandoned monuments of civilization, “the accumulated hopes
and dreams and projects of past generations, all of which had come
to nothing.” I was born in the 1960s and so for me life started before the
Internet. For more than half of my life, I have raced breathlessly
to keep up with the digital revolution advancing with increasing
speed. I look back now and realize that so much of what I love
is disappearing: film, print, truth. Will cities be next? Are our cities destined to become the ghosts of our future?

Kristina Juzaitis has had a long career as a creative director in advertising and print. She began studying black-and-white film photography at the International Center of Photography in 2001. Most recently, and she completed three year-long independent projects with master photographer and printer Chuck Kelton. Ghost City was a result of these studies. Kristina holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, music journalist and novelist Ira Robbins.