[ISEA2019] Artist Statement: Marc Lee – 10.000 Moving Cities: Same but Different

Artist Statement

AR (Augmented Reality) multiplayer game, mobile app

Are we living in a globalized world that is becoming increasingly homogeneous? Languages, plant and animal species are continuously decreasing. Supermarkets, buildings and cities look more and more alike. Places are emerging, which could be anywhere in the world without a real local identity. Technological progress is accelerating this process. Fast means of transport and communication such as airplanes, satellites and the Internet enable ever faster and apparently more comprehensive access to information. 10.000 Moving Cities poses the question of what the ever-growing similarity and homogeneity mean.
With the Augmented Reality App 10.000 Moving Cities – Same but Different every place becomes a city. High towers rise into the sky. One moves between the imaginary buildings via smartphone and tablet and participates in the digital communication streams and social movements of our time by means of inserted Social Media Posts. The buildings can be destroyed and rebuilt by the users. But beware! Every-one sees what the other is doing from different perspectives. The more buildings disappear, the more creatures appear.
In the multiuser version, users can simultaneously experience an identical virtual city consisting of posts from social media networks. Interactions in the virtual city, such as the destroying of building blocks, are also visible on all connected devices.
Marc Lee has created four different versions of the 10.000 Moving Cities. At ISEA you can experience the AR version. There is also a VR version, a mobile version and a version with real cubes. All four versions are similar in content, but made with very different technologies.
marclee.io/en/10-000-moving-cities-same-but-different-ar                                                                    Visitors can use their own Android or iOS tablets or mobile phones.  The apps are downloadable from Play Store (Google) and App Store (Apple) for free. marclee.io/ar

Credits: Marc Lee in collaboration with the Intelligent Sensor-Actuator-Systems Laboratory (ISAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

  • Marc Lee, b.1969, Switzerland. His works, which focus on real-time processed, computer programmed audio-visual installations, have been shown in major Museums and new media art exhibitions including ZKM Karlsruhe (DE), New Museum New York (US), Transmediale Berlin (DE), Ars Electronica Linz (AU), Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Inaugural Exhibition National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul (SK). marclee.io/en/about