VOUW, an Amsterdam-based design studio, has unveiled City Gazing Dubai, a new light art installation that highlights human progress, connection and sustainability. The installation is a rendition of satellite images of Dubai made with 18m x 11m of LEDs set to music. The multisensory exhibit is suspended 8 meters high over DIFC Gate Avenue, where it will be on display and open to the public until the 29th of January 2022 from 7:10pm to 3:00am.

Visitors who stand beneath the large, illuminated map of Dubai are treated to a dynamic light display accompanied by pulses to a vibrant soundscape. The installation highlights how Dubai has grown from a few key arterial roads into the unique, internationally renowned metropolis it is today. By showcasing the city’s development against the backdrop of the desert sky, City Gazing Dubai is intended to send a message about human achievement, social connection and sustainability.

“City Gazing Dubai gives people the chance to experience the ‘overview effect’, the feeling that astronauts have when they see our planet from the vastness of space. It’s an awareness that life on Earth is fragile and that we are all connected. When people stand together beneath City Gazing Dubai and look up, they too feel will united by a sense of wonder,” said artist Mingus Vogel, who designed the work with partner Justus Bruns.

City Gazing Dubai is now open for public viewing in DIFC, Gate Avenue until January 29th from 7:10pm to 3:00am.