Merging Cities
(Bringing unfamiliar audiences together through a transmedial encounter space)- Video Creator
- Johanna Besseling
- Collaborator
- Werkstatt Gröninger Hof, LU’UM collective, HAW Hamburg students, Visions in Clouds (Lucerne), ANDI (Hamburg)
- type
- Transmedial event format / Experimental gathering environment
- practice focus
- Experimental gathering formats and participatory media environments
- materials
- Mirror installation, pipe system structure, cameras, projectors, live audio setup, video recording equipment, transmedial projection environment
Merging Cities was an experimental event format developed at Werkstatt Gröninger Hof, exploring how urban gathering spaces can bring together people who would not normally meet in public life. The project combined multiple strategies of participation, including collaborations with external initiatives, hybrid programming formats, and spatial media interventions.
In collaboration with a partner group from Lucerne, a symbolic city partnership between Hamburg and Lucerne was staged for one evening. The programme brought together a transmedial installation created by students from HAW Hamburg, a thematic talk addressing micronations and sanctuary cities, and a double concert featuring the Hamburg-based band ANDI and the Lucerne-based band Visions in Clouds.
At the centre of the event was an immersive media installation composed of mirrors suspended within a pipe structure, combined with cameras and projectors. Live camera feeds captured the audience and were projected back into the space in distorted and colour-shifted reflections, transforming the venue into a transmedial encounter environment. The entire evening was documented through continuous video recording as well as high-quality audio recordings of the concerts, creating a layered archive of the event.
