City Travelogue: The Smart Project

The Smart Project projects a simulacrum of the urbanscape, traffic network, and cultural landscape of a fictional city by creating an installation of micro-cityscape made of daily objects. The landscape is studded with landmarks including architectural complexes, streets, underway, skyscrapers, and theaters. Two Smart model cars travel on fixed routes in opposite directions. They tour around the city and visit its corners; in the meantime, they broadcast these encounters through micro-cameras fixed on the cars as the travel, turning the scenery along the way into a cinematic narrative reminiscent of highway movies. In a way this project reflects the historical shifts during China's rapid urbanization. The Smart model cars not only travel through a cityscape model consisting of distinct features of various Chinese cities, but also through a unique moment in history defined by constant changes.  (Bono Lee)