We Dream the City

SERVICES

YEAR

Digital Storytelling
Experience Design
Heritage Interpretation

2022

CLIENT

Commissioned for Vivid Sydney 2022

DESCRIPTION

Enter a collective dreamscape of city dreaming, as scenes of Sydney’s transformation are rendered as an expression of modern society’s enduring love affair with technologies of speed and motion.

Created by Studio ESEM commissioned for Vivid Sydney 2022, the artwork invites audiences to reflect on their place within the wider arts of city making today.

We Dream the City is a celebration of the arts of everyday city making through time.

Drawing on Sarah’s unique archival research methodology, it reflects on the dynamics of urban change and transformation in the life of Sydney in the twentieth century, and the evolving choreography of city-making as captured through rapidly-changing technologies of vision and motion.

Reflecting on our place in history, We Dream creates an expansive canvas through which to reflect on the many dreams that shape our attachment to the city through time, combining connections to Country, to place and memory, and to community and sites of personal intimacy.

Originally presented for Vivid Sydney 2022 as a 130m-long projection artwork, We Dream the City also includes an extensive range of archival sound recordings of Sydney through time, including voices of Sydney identities, street scenes, lost buildings and industries at work.

The artwork incorporates over 30 film and sound recordings spanning 1908 to the present day, reimagined and rendered as a contemporary and engaging reflection of our collective role in the ongoing shaping of the city.

We Dream the City was delivered as a 130m projection artwork along the rear of the Powerhouse Museum, at the site of the Goods Line, in central Sydney.

The project showcased recordings from the Transport for NSW Historical Collections and Digitisation Project, along with collections from the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia and the ABC’s TV and Radio Archives.

We Dream the City

We Dream the City is a celebration of the arts of everyday city making through time.

Drawing on Sarah’s unique archival research methodology, it reflects on the dynamics of urban change and transformation in the life of Sydney in the twentieth century, and the evolving choreography of city-making as captured through rapidly-changing technologies of vision and motion.

Reflecting on our place in history, We Dream creates an expansive canvas through which to reflect on the many dreams that shape our attachment to the city through time, combining connections to Country, to place and memory, and to community and sites of personal intimacy.

Originally presented for Vivid Sydney 2022 as a 130m-long projection artwork, We Dream the City also includes an extensive range of archival sound recordings of Sydney through time, including voices of Sydney identities, street scenes, lost buildings and industries at work.

The artwork incorporates over 30 film and sound recordings spanning 1908 to the present day, reimagined and rendered as a contemporary and engaging reflection of our collective role in the ongoing shaping of the city.

We Dream the City was delivered as a 130m projection artwork along the rear of the Powerhouse Museum, at the site of the Goods Line, in central Sydney.

The project showcased recordings from the Transport for NSW Historical Collections and Digitisation Project, along with collections from the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia and the ABC’s TV and Radio Archives.

A selection of recordings were licensed by the ABC under Creative Commons licence, and are available for creative re-use by audiences.

This Creative Commons licensing initiative was established by Sarah as an ABC digital strategist in 2009.

We Dream the City

We Dream the City is a celebration of the arts of everyday city making through time.

Drawing on Sarah’s unique archival research methodology, it reflects on the dynamics of urban change and transformation in the life of Sydney in the twentieth century, and the evolving choreography of city-making as captured through rapidly-changing technologies of vision and motion.

Reflecting on our place in history, We Dream creates an expansive canvas through which to reflect on the many dreams that shape our attachment to the city through time, combining connections to Country, to place and memory, and to community and sites of personal intimacy.

Originally presented for Vivid Sydney 2022 as a 130m-long projection artwork, We Dream the City also includes an extensive range of archival sound recordings of Sydney through time, including voices of Sydney identities, street scenes, lost buildings and industries at work.

The artwork incorporates over 30 film and sound recordings spanning 1908 to the present day, reimagined and rendered as a contemporary and engaging reflection of our collective role in the ongoing shaping of the city.

We Dream the City was delivered as a 130m projection artwork along the rear of the Powerhouse Museum, at the site of the Goods Line, in central Sydney.

The project showcased recordings from the Transport for NSW Historical Collections and Digitisation Project, along with collections from the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia and the ABC’s TV and Radio Archives.

A selection of recordings were licensed by the ABC under Creative Commons licence, and are available for creative re-use by audiences.

This Creative Commons licensing initiative was established by Sarah as an ABC digital strategist in 2009.

Connecting Collections for the Museum of Histories NSW

Voices for Change: Celebrating Urban Change-makers with Studio THI