Onur Sonmez & Tamer Aslan: Flame

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.

Flame was presented in the framework of Connecting Cities' In/Visible City 2015 theme.