Evolving cities, evolving façades: public digital art can make our cities better

Urban centers have changed a lot over the past several years. 

The proliferation of digital screens has drastically changed their look and feel; the global pandemic put an urgent spotlight on their vast environmental and systemic challenges; and social trends, like remote work, and pressing social issues, like systemic inequality and migration, and crime now require us to fundamentally reimagine life in the heart of these metropolises.

Media architecture, or digital platforms incorporated into the built environment, will be an intrinsic part of that reimagining. As a field, it can better equip our cities to withstand new shocks, and create civic spaces where both people and business can thrive. But in order to embrace the potential of media architecture, it needs to be planned—and utilized—intentionally.  

Evolving cities, evolving façades

Initially, developers installed outdoor screens as an afterthought to the buildings themselves, leveraging them as commercial opportunities (think New York’s Times Square).

But now, developers are incorporating digital platforms into new construction with the clear intent of delivering engaging, noncommercial content to the public. Consider the new PENN 2 Tower in New York above Penn Station. Vornado Realty Trust, which developed the building, included an innovative exterior screen as a portico roof overhang of the building itself. Now, as commuters make their way through the new Penn District, they’ll discover art by renowned artists right above their heads.

Sometimes the “screen” is the building itself, as in public art video mapping projects like Art on the Mart in Chicago, which projects public art onto its over two and a half acre façade nightly, and without branding. Similarly, Turkish artist and designer Refik Anadol’s work on the façade of Gaudí’s Casa Batlló in Barcelona somehow made the building even more famous.

These kinds of projects represent a rising trend that questions advertising’s dominance of our evolving digital urbanscapes. While intentionally designed and curated digital platforms in public spaces can’t solve all of our challenges—nor should they replace all commercial or municipal uses—they do offer one response to a shifting set of social needs.

Take, for example, the growing sense of isolation in contemporary urban societies, which has increased due to the pandemic and the persistence of remote work. Although some workers may benefit from reduced commute and office time, we also have to ask what we’re losing when stepping away from regular physical engagement with city life.

An encounter with a public digital art, whether intentionally or by wonderful happenstance, can grow our social capacity: our sense of connection, belonging, cohesion, and civic pride. Thoughtfully planned media platforms transform building façades into gathering places for stimulation, entertainment, and engagement in constructive dialogues. 

Substantive outdoor digital media programming can also increase fair and equal access to cultural amenities. When placed in high-traffic areas that service multiple communities, these platforms become opportunities to seamlessly infuse art and day-to-day life—breaking down the barriers to access presented by traditional art-viewing experiences. These interventions could especially capture the attention of younger generations, who might not have the resources to access a museum or gallery but are increasingly shaped by and responsive to technology.

Media architecture—itself a new form of infrastructure—demands its own best practices. Context is key: The placement of digital art in public spaces necessarily implies a parting of ways with the neutrality of the white cube of museums and other institutional spaces. In the absence of “neutrality,” the backdrop matters, and becomes an integral part of the artwork’s presentation and curatorial concerns.

Media architecture at its best facilitates connection

Art in public spaces always attracts a particularly lively discourse: it prompts real-life interpersonal connections as passersby experience the artwork; and, increasingly, it sparks passionate debate online. But typical public artworks are static and rely on a single medium, whether they are a sculpture in a park or a photo pasted onto a billboard. 

In contrast, one digital public artwork, Chicago’s Art on the Mart, presents time-bound, custom-made, site-specific visual and performing arts experiences that can last up to 30 minutes. The combination of sound, light, film, photography, and animation allows for compelling and comprehensive storytelling, offering multiple entry points for mass audiences to more intuitively connect with the art on view. 

Its location on the Chicago River, and surrounded by a greater expanse of open space, allows viewers on the Riverwalk across the waterway to have a more contemplative experience of public space. 

When planning and placing public artwork in a shared space, the key is to envision all possible outcomes of how viewers will experience the art and how those outcomes contribute to or detract from the social goods we want in our future cities. 

Consider Times Square. It’s dense with screens that show rapidly changing content (largely ads), and it’s a primary case study in how our attention economy can manifest in oversaturated urban spaces. The density of it all can create world-famous energy and stimulation, but it also challenges sustained engagement.

Public digital art programming needs to put concept first

Content programming also requires careful attention. Public digital art should be treated like all contemporary art, and is deserving of serious thought around the relationship between form (of which technology is a part) and concept. That’s when digital art is at its best.

And while form and content are impossible to separate, public art that favors concept over flashy technological displays has a better chance of longer-term success. We have to expand beyond the pleasures of light-show eye-candy for public, digital art platforms to work within the everyday urban experience. Save the super flashy spectacles for the Vegas Strip.

That’s not to suggest that conceptually resolved works are any less accessible. Take Nick Cave’s 2022 commission for Art on the Mart. Dancers in dazzling costumes called “sound suits” seduced viewers into meditations on race and new paths forward, and had the potential to spark empathy and catalyze dialogue. Simply put, technology should be at the service of people.

Thoughtful programming opens up a host of additional questions: Who funds and selects the works? Which voices are amplified? What is an appropriate duration for works of digital art in public contexts and how often are they rotated? What provisions should be made for their conservation and preservation? How might community partners engage? How do digital installations drive further public art across media in the surrounding context, to enhance place-making?

All of these questions require us to envision the types of cities we want to inhabit. World-class future cities include media architecture that utilizes the best of human creativity and innovation to optimize spaces and prioritize connectivity, always with attention to sustainability and equity. An essential part of the armature of future cities, digital platforms are here to stay. If the medium is the message, what do we want to say?