City to City

City to City is a project commissioned by the cities of Austin (USA), Braga (Portugal), Calí (Colombia), Changsha (China), Dakar (Senegal), Enghien-les-Bains (France), Guadalajara (Mexico), Gwangju (South Korea), Karlsruhe (Germany), Kosice (Slovakia), Sapporo (Japan), Toronto (Canada), Viborg (Denmark), York (United Kingdom), members of the Media Arts Cluster of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, to mark their commitment with the importance of cooperation and support to art and creativity as a major force for the sustainable development in these times of uncertainty.

Below, you can see the result of four editions: 2020 with the topic Human Responsibility, 2021 open call: PLAY!, 2022 with the topic of Behavioral Change, and 2023 with the topic of Augmented Humanity.

 

2023

For this fourth edition of the project, the aim was for cities to mark their commitment to international cooperation and support for creation as a lever for sustainable development. Thus, in 2023, the cities of Austin (USA), Cali (Colombia), Enghien- les-Bains (France), Gwangju (South Korea), Hamar (Norway), Karlsruhe (Germany), Kosice (Slovakia), Modena (Italy), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Viborg (Denmark) have come together around the theme of Augmented Humanity. 

The combination of technology and human capabilities paves the way for a new era of enhanced possibilities, but also introduces new challenges and threats to the foundations of humanity. With rapid advancements in fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and wearable devices, a domain is emerging where people’s physical and cognitive abilities can be enhanced. Through brain-computer interfaces, this “Augmented Humanity” promises to solve problems, increase productivity, and improve connection and communication between individuals. However, ethical considerations and ensuring fair access to these technologies remain a challenge.

The 2023 edition enabled 5 collaborations to emerge:

  • A Room of the Humanity – Kosice (Slovakia) x Gwangju (South Korea)
  • Drawdown – Austin (United States) x Modena (Italy)
  • My name is Samanea saman – Cali (Colombia) x Karlsruhe (Deutschland)
  • Unwonted Locations – Tbilisi (Georgia) x Viborg (Denmark)
  • Rituels Cyborg – Hamar (Norway) x Enghien-les-Bains (France)

The artworks were presented during an exhibition that took place in Enghien-les-Bains during the Bains numériques, International Media Arts Biennale, as well as in other local manifestations.

Virtual Gallery

2022

The third year of media art collaboration brought another two UNESCO Creative Cities together. For two months, Mišo Hudák from Košice and Faiza Kracheni from Austin were looking for answers to questions related to the topic of Behavior Change. Their work focuses on the memory of people and places and on the gaps and limitations now created by technology’s growing power.

Artists reflected on the changes technology brings to our understanding of moral, social, and political actions. How does it affect the body of action itself, the perception of activity, the horizon of perceived possibilities – what is possible, what is moral, what is desirable, and how are we expected to act, interact, and engage in our lives and lives of our communities, because of technology and by technology.

Their common efforts and collaboration were supported by meetings during Lab Coaching Sessions, where together with mentors and experts, they discussed, and looked for breakthroughs and possibilities for the realization of their joint output called Born & Raised.

City to City 2022: Born & Raised

Virtual Gallery

2021

In 2021, 13 cities of the Media Arts cluster joined their forces again to open a new possibility for international online artistic collaboration. With the theme of PLAY! the selected artists were answering some of the critical questions as: Can we use our creative talents to help rebuild our cities, our relationships, and our communities, but make it better than what went before? Can we imagine a fairer, more sustainable future? Can we use our technologies to help us learn to play again? What will happen when we press Play?

The three-month-long autumn collaboration was preceded by an open call and a process of selection of artists, who were in August given the opportunity to exchange ideas, team up, discuss and pitch proposals with acknowledged media art curators and experts during four  C2C LAB Sessions. Newly created artists teams were encouraged to work together on high-quality media art pieces, which are being presented in the cities of UCCN, and beyond.

More about City to City

City to City: PLAY! Trailer | 2021 City to City: PLAY!

 

Online Inauguration | 2021 City to City: PLAY! Record of the official online inauguration, who joined the cities of Austin (United States), Braga (Portugal), Cali (Colombia), Changsha (China), Guadalajara (México), Karlsruhe (Germany), Kosice (Slovakia), Sapporo (Japan), York (United Kingdom), Enghien-les-Bains (France), Gwangju (South Korea),  Toronto (Canada), and Viborg (Denmark) members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for Media Arts. Watch here.

Creative Process | 2021 City to City: PLAY! brought together artists from 13 different cities in an online collaborative artistic experience that lead up to five digital art pieces. Watch the creative process here.

Virtual Gallery

2020

City to City 2020 open call from nine UNESCO Creative Cities for Media Arts to their local artists was launched in order to create online collaborative artistic projects. Matched in five pairs, our artists worked around the concept of Human Responsibility, finding answers to three critical questions: 1) Does technology have the ability to solve all the problems in the future? 2) Do we need more arts and empathy to be able to use technology in better and more responsible ways? 3) Are we allowed to make decisions on behalf of the planet?

Learn more about the project and the art pieces created on the following website.