City Sets - the urban stage

City Sets uses the metaphor of ‘city as stage’ in order to investigate critically the design elements, visual languages and narratives embedded in the cities.

City Sets combines visual research, media art and design productions, exhibitions and interactive forums within the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. It is an invitation for people to explore the city and its design and to discover and discuss the values embedded in an urban environment.

There will be three forums where the city design will be discovered:

City Sets workshops, web site and media player

In 2012, two City Sets workshops will take place. First in Helsinki and second one in Paris. It will involve students from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD), and will have the cooperation from the Finnish Institute. Read more:  http://citysets.net/

"City Sets: Multimodal Local Media” seminar

See previous “City Sets – Visual Urban Identities” seminar in 2010

Location-based media art installations

Media art installations provide another point of view of the city and its inhabitants in international exhibitions such as:

‘At Hand – Movable Places’ by Heidi Tikka inquires into the gestures people produce unknowingly. It explores through participatory performances how people articulate the experience of waiting. Watch the first installation version.

Travels with My Mom, investigates family relations in our contemporary world. The piece integrates the personal relationship of Mother and Son into specific physical places in different European cities. The work is under development by Jaakko Pesonen and Mika ‘Lumi’ Tuomola. Read more: http://crucible.mlog.taik.fi/productions/city-sets/

RE/F/r.ACE is a participatory multimodal city event utilizing interactive and mobile media in several levels. The project embraces contemporary socio-political themes like rhythm of urban life style and difference through the visual and sound design. On a metaphorical level, it deals with concepts related to social glue, the miracle of human bonding through social media. Read more: http://crucible.mlog.taik.fi/productions/city-sets/

At Hand – Movable Places media art installation 

Travels with My Mom 

RE/F/r.ACE