FLAME

Onur Sonmez & Tamer Aslan: Flame from Public Art Lab on Vimeo.

ONUR SONMEZ AND TAMER ASLAN (Based in Munich and Vienna)
FLAME, 2015

Fire had been a strong symbolic association for the humanity, going back to the early times of civilization. For Hunters and Gatherers, and even more in the settled societies, fire had defined the gathering point, the point where food was prepared and shared, the space where good times were celebrated and bad times mourned.
As the civilizations and city structures got more complex, fire started to become the power that forged the tools and weapons of this complexity, and hence initiated the progress of technology. Its symbolic representation rose to its highest form with industrial revolution, where steam engines converted this power directly into usable energy, which became the main driving force of the cities.
Therefore, for our project, we want to ask if urban screens are the fire places of our digital societies of today. FLAME is an installation where visitors can fan the fire, come together and remember the turning wheels that constitute the Hybrid City, a city that becomes more and more invisible.

Photograph: © Onur Sonmez and Tamer Aslan

Artist biography

Onur Sonmez is a designer, who has a wide range of interests in interaction design/interface design research. He exhibited in many places such as Venice Biennale Architecture, Saatchi Gallery London, Ars Electronica (2005, 07, 08, 09, 10, 12, 13), Media Facade FestivalEurope, Linz 09 European Capital of Culture, IAMAS / Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences Japan, Pixelache Festival SantralIstanbul - Istanbul, Medialab Prado - Madrid etc.

Tamer Aslan is a Creative Technologist born in Istanbul, based in Vienna. His educational background covers Electronics Engineering and Interaction Design, whereas his works extend design and technology, to even art and research. He has worked as creative engineer and design researcher in Ars Electronics Futurelab, and has exhibited at Milan Design Fair and Ars Electronica Festival. His current interests are Playful Cites and Designed Rituals.