10'000 Moving Cities – Same but Different (VR), 2016 -

Virtual Reality Experience

In this work the artist explores aspects of globalisation and urbanisation in the digital age. In recent years, increasing globalisation and digitalisation have led cities to become more and more similar. One reason is the emergence of so-called 'non-places'; a term coined by French anthropologist Marc Augé, that refers to spaces of transience without any true local identity such as motorways, shopping malls, hotel rooms or airports. The architecture and function of such non-places is similar all over the world, which leads to cities increasingly resembling each other.

In the virtual reality version of '10'000 Moving Cities - Same But Different', Marc Lee projects social network content from a city of choice onto non-descript buildings that could exist anywhere in the world. Upon entering the work via HTC Vive glasses, visitors find themselves in the midst of a virtual city with tall towers rising at different heights to form a skyline. On the surfaces of the buildings, a display of images and videos is constantly changing, fed by posts shared publicly on social networks such as YouTube, Flicker or Twitter. Walking through collages of these personal statements streamed in real time, visitors can glimpse the ever-evolving city and explore cultural and local peculiarities. By doing so, Marc Lee visualises the interrelation of outward similarity and local difference in global cities and invites visitors to explore this in his interactive installation.

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