Urbsense
URB-SENSE introduces the participatory production of a virtual mental map of the city. Enabled by a custom-designed digital platform, the artwork will be collectively and progressively generated throughout the course of the exhibition. Any inhabitant or visitor in Jakarta will have the chance to contribute by providing a set of data expressing their individual experience of the city. Information such as perceived time and distances, street activity, or urban comfort levels will give shape to an abstract three-dimensional representation of the urban environment. This fluid visual object will convey the flows, uses and atmosphere that define Jakarta, and depict a collective subjective experience of the city, as it is lived and shaped by its participants.
Generated by a form of participatory intelligence, the piece is characterized by an infinite possibility of outcomes. As the participants interact with it, they are able to extract point-in-time snapshots that can easily be stored or shared. Despite its artistic nature, the project can be seen as an experiment in radical participatory design. Perfectly adapted to our time of pandemic, it taps into the seemingly infinite potential of digital tools to allow the performing of collective action within the constraints of social distancing.
NANTLAB
Nantlab is a collective based in Germany which has been developing interactive and immersive installations since 2014.
With backgrounds in architecture, urbanism, (interior) design and human computer interaction, Nantlab takes an interdisciplinary approach to create innovative concepts by fusing the analog and digital worlds.
The collective adapts their projects to the locations and type of places where they exhibit, such as digital events, or art and music festivals. Nantlab works on several scales, from light objects to space design, using emerging technologies as well as unusual materials and forms.
Installations are created with the constant desire to engage and connect emotionally with the audience in a multisensory experience through sound, light and kinematics.
Thomas Geissl
Thomas is a creative technologist who creates experiences that touch people by fusing the analog and the digital world. He believes in free software and enjoys collaborating with others. Music plays an important role in his life. He writes his own performance software and tools.
Nadine Khalil
Nadine is a French architect based in Germany since 2010. After studying architecture in Nantes, she worked with different architecture offices, with a focus on interior design. She founded NantLab in 2014 with Thomas Geissl, as a space to explore the creation of interactive and temporary installations. She is a creative mind with bold ideas, and a special interest in sustainable building, wood construction and lighting design.
Anaïs Le Grand
An architectural designer practicing with international firms since 2010, her work and curiosity has brought her to many different cities in Asia and beyond. Her fascination for the urban condition started when studying architecture in France, and grew as she contributed to the development of large-scale projects while based in Shanghai. Her current work focuses on contemporary urbanism, and she is specifically interested in how digital design and automation shape our social and built environment.