The draw of the Faraday Café in East Vancouver isn’t what it offers customers, but what it takes away.
Checking emails, texting friends, receiving calls from your boss: all will be impossible while sitting for coffee at the experimental pop-up, which was designed to block patrons’ wireless access.
Local artist Julien Thomas told CTV News he had the idea last year after an architect friend told him about Faraday cages, mesh screen enclosure capable of repelling electromagnetic signals.
“I really liked the idea, I thought people would get a kick out of it,” Thomas said. “You can come for a coffee, you can hang out in the cage, have a chat with people, put your phone away, not have to worry about it buzzing or making any noises while you’re here.”
The Faraday Café, located on Columbia Street near Pender, is a bare-bones space. Freshly-ground pour coffee is prepared and served on a small table and sold for a suggested donation of $3-$5.
The main attraction is the cage, a roughly eight-by-16-foot box with chairs and a table that Thomas hopes will make people ponder their reliance on technology.
“I don’t know about you, I find myself pulling out my phone way too often,” he said. “Phones allow us to do so much, so I’m not saying that we should get rid of our phones. I just think we need to be a little more thoughtful in when we use them and how we use them.”
Phones are like cars, Thomas added.
“If you have one, you use it.”
The project, created with Hughes Condon Marler Architects, follows several others Thomas has launched in recent years designed to create conversations. He described his work as social art.
“I take social interactions as my media as opposed to paint or photography. I’m interested in the interactions that can take place in certain scenarios,” he said.
The Faraday Café opened Thursday and will operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays until July 16.
