MULTIPLICITY. Exploring the influence of Mythic cities. The case of Venice.
MultipliCity is an immersive installation that explores the influence of mythical cities, focusing on the city of Venice.
The interplay between myth and reality emerges through a series of 360º human-drawn and AI-generated views that help to combine places, content and narratives, creating a circular, powerful and complex relationship between these elements. 
The power of certain cities, such as Venice, to project their image onto other places was explored by the author during a sketching campaign between Venice and several Venice of around the world. The matching views sketched in Amsterdam, Aveiro, New York and Stockholm are used to ask the machine to open a third eye, giving an additional vision and interpretation.

Final features of the Artifact exhibition
in MultipliCity, pairs of panoramas printed on paper from spherical sketches allow the identification and correspondence of specific locations in the city of Venice and in the parallel cities. The generative AI takes the interpretation of the myth further by combining the artist’s drawings and creating new visions.
The installation opens views onto a series of mini-domes, arranged to create an immersive environment that relates the panoramas on the left to the corresponding views on the right. Visitors are encouraged to enter and make their own journey through how the idol image of Venice is perceived in other places and how it is imagined by the AI. The variety of immersive views creates a multifaceted journey through the different ways Venice is seen, narrated, perceived, and imagined.

The installation also opens a digital layer: all the panoramas are available in the virtual dimension, accessible through QR codes and explored by users with their smart devices. 
The comparative views of Venice and the other Venice are blended in the three-dimensional space. Virtual environments could allow us to see what cannot be captured by the naked human eye, and have the potential to reveal places and details in a different way than how the physical senses perceive them. 

Transportation and assembly
The mini-domes are handmade with embroidery tambourine instruments and the prints of the panoramas in sinusoidal-interrupted projection, assembled with an origami technique. 
The wooden frames give an optimal balance between the approximation of the geometry of the holes, the details of the sketches and the level of immersion. It is also a very light solution for hanging the domes from the ceiling with fishing line, for the physical installation.
Due to the constraints of air travel, the mini domes are designed to be lightweight and easy to assemble. The holes that form the hemispheres are printed on thick A3 paper to fit in the luggage. The QR codes are printed on paper and will be placed on the bottom of the frames.

Production of documentation for the exhibition
The exhibition called Circuitos has been conceived as a collaborative curatorial project in the context of the UC Curadoria e Intervenção Artística Digital. 
The exhibition will take place from 16 to 19 July 2024 at the Universidade Aberta, located in Rua Almirante Barroso, Lisbon.

As stated in the project presented by the curatorial collective, “Circuitos – name and concept – contains a multiplicity of formats, materials, devices and reflections that symbolically or literally wait to be triggered by visitors and other entities”.
The exhibition space serves as a conductive material that guides the public along the route, similar to the current that flows in electrical circuits. The MultipliCity installation is placed at the intersection of two spaces – the auditorium foyer and the bar, where the space narrows slightly to form a kind of hallway that facilitates the installation.
The concept of the poster uses visual elements that evoke electronic circuits, representing the fusion between art and technology that underlies digital media art. The design of the Room Sheets is based on the sustainability of the processes and materials, and the potential advantages of digital in terms of user experience and interaction. Each Room Sheet is conceived as an interactive digital document that can be accessed via a QR code. The document displays on the user’s device information about the artifact and an audio guide.

The curatorial collective has set up a communication plan for the exhibition, with posts on social networks before and during the event. Each installation will be photographed and a virtual tour of the artifact on display will be captured after the opening.