City to City
2021
City to City is a project commissioned by the cities of Austin (USA), Braga (Portugal), Calí (Colombia), Changsha (China), Dakar (Senegal), Enghien-les-Bains (France), Guadalajara (Mexico), Gwangju (South Korea), Karlsruhe (Germany), Kosice (Slovakia), Sapporo (Japan), Toronto (Canada), Viborg (Denmark), York (United Kingdom), members of the Media Arts Cluster of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, to mark their commitment with the importance of cooperation and support to art and creativity as a major force for the sustainable development in these times of uncertainty.
In 2021, 13 cities of the Media Arts cluster joined their forces again to open a new possibility for international online artistic collaboration. With the theme of PLAY! the selected artists were answering some of the critical questions as: Can we use our creative talents to help rebuild our cities, our relationships, and our communities, but make it better than what went before? Can we imagine a fairer, more sustainable future? Can we use our technologies to help us learn to play again? What will happen when we press Play?
The three-month-long autumn collaboration was preceded by an open call and a process of selection of artists, who were in August given the opportunity to exchange ideas, team up, discuss and pitch proposals with acknowledged media art curators and experts during four C2C LAB Sessions. Newly created artists teams were encouraged to work together on high-quality media art pieces, which are being presented in the cities of UCCN, and beyond.
Synopsis
In a social situation where it was difficult for us living in Cali, Changsha, and Sapporo to physically meet, we created a portal by sending our imaginations back and forth. The Portal was placed in each city. We dispersed a virtual world into the physical world and made it virtual again by documentation. In the online exhibition, the portal is open to the audience as well. The same virtual content leads to the imagination of a different place.
Artists' instructions
To experience the artwork, you will need two devices: 1. a screen with the open website of The Portal (it can be a laptop screen or any), and 2. a smartphone or tablet with a camera and speaker, Chrome or Safari browser and Internet connection. On the second device, please open the AR app via clicking on the ‘’hello world’’ tag, which will allow you to experience the piece while pointing on the screen 1, scanning the portal.
Artists' Bio
Yilin Wang – Changsha (China)
Sound designer, audio engineer, and music composer. Graduated from the University of York, majored in music technology with an MA degree. Yilin is now working as an audio engineer at Hunan Broadcasting System. She has cooperated with many directors, musicians, and artist,s and her sound and music works have won more than five times 1st prize in national sound production competitions and has been invited as a lecturer to many professional art colleges, TED, and CCBN meetings.
Mauricio Díaz – Cali (Colombia)
Artist, Creative Director, Entrepreneur, Professional in Graphic Design, with over 15 years of experience. Mauricio has worked with agencies, television channels, and creative studios conceptualizing and producing projects for national and international brands. Mauricio is the founder and director of Cacumen, an important creative studio in Cali, which nationally pioneers in mapping, country creating content, and general production, directing more than 70 technological artistic projects such as architectural mapping, installations on scenographies, table mapping, virtual reality development, and holograms.
Miyuki Oka – Sapporo (Sapporo)
Miyuki Oka is a multimedia artist who creates installations and videos based on eco-philosophical perspectives and technological speculations. After majoring in Environmental biogeochemistry, she studied Information Experience Design at the Royal College of Art. Awards received include the STRP ACT (2020) and the WIRED Creative Hack Award Grand Prix (2021).