




Palimpsest
In this multimedia sculpture, acrylic cubes form an overlapping city landscape that represents cities and each individual living within them. Each cube stands for the interconnectedness of urban life and the unique narratives of its inhabitants. The long black acrylic panels on the back represent an obstructed view and therefore a juxtaposition of transparency and opacity, reflecting the coexistence of publicity and privacy in the cities.
By interviewing our community, we used a subjective method to understand the city's composition, which includes linear recollections of unique urban experiences, imagination about the future, dialogues and discussions about different cities between us and friends, as well as city soundscapes. They encompass memories of urban culture, impressions of people encountered in each city, and self-reflections and analyses of one's own state. When these recordings are further processed in the composition, the boundaries between past, present, and future were blurred. This creates a narrative that resembles a palimpsest, where layers of memories overlap, and we are condensing such vast experiences of urban life into this small sculpture.
Ultrasonic sensors and FFT analysis of the audio data were used to create synchronization and interactions between the audience, sound, and lighting patterns. LED filaments run through and connect different acrylic cubes, emphasizing the myriad connections between people, between people and the city, and between cities themselves. This highlights the fluidity and complexity inherent in urban life.