City Gazing
See how our cities developed as seen from space
City Gazing is a site-specific light art installation showing how a city developed over the last 100 years as seen from space. For every city a new edition is designed and produced, showing the development of that specific city. Each edition comes with a custom soundscape that tells the story of the city. Floating in the sky, the work lets us see our cities from a distance, highlighting the technological power we have as well as the fragility of life on earth.
Exhibited all around the world
Since the first edition in 2017, City Gazing has been shown in cities all over the world. From the old canals of Amsterdam to the expansion of Dubai in the 90s. For every edition old maps are studied to see what the main roads were and what are the important points of interest like train stations, harbours and airports. Each edition shows the unique pattern of development of the city, where all editions together show a general pattern in urban development that emerged all over the world.
Riyadh
Dubai
Amsterdam
Singapore
Made in Amsterdam
When the design of the map is ready, we use a Rhino algorithm to develop all the connecting pieces. With all pieces of this large puzzle produced in Amsterdam, the construction of City Gazing on site takes approximately one week. The work is completely waterproof and has been exhibited in extreme heat and cold conditions.
Custom composed music for every edition
For every edition we work with a top composer to create a soundscape that tells the story of the city. From the rapid growth of Dubai in the 80s, to the bombing of Singapore in WWII, to the relocation of the government to Riyadh in the 70s. It’s all expressed in sound and vision.
See Darius Timmer explain the composition for City Gazing Singapore and listen to the soundscape of the Riyadh edition below.
Outdoor and indoor
Originally developed as a work for outdoor, we have also developed City Gazing for indoors. The first indoor edition was installed in the Riverside museum of art in Beijing in 2019. The work was an elegant ceiling piece that quietly pulsated with light.
Lightbox
Based on the work City Gazing, Lightbox is a version of City Gazing for on the wall at home. The work shows what the growth in city light means for our night sky. During the day and beginning of the evening, the work shows the footprint of light, but when you turn off the light in the room, the starry night sky becomes visible.
Read more about lightbox here.
Editions
