To celebrate its 100th birthday and upcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU, Estonia is giving a gift to a number of capital cities in Europe. Artworks combining street art and digital technology will give new life to a range of colourful characters from 100 years of history, building a bridge between the past and the present.
At first sight positioned as observers on the streets of a foreign country, they will invite passers-by to get to know them better using smartphones and tablets. Augmented-reality technology will bring our characters to life.
Ats#Pets, an electric bagpipe duo from Tarvastu, will be jamming on the streets of Paris. Lembit, the King of the Hill, who speaks the ancient language of stones and knows all the secrets stored in rocks, observes life in Copenhagen. Digital nomads Miina & Enn, who spent some time stuck in a mail server after a malfunction on their self-built teleportation device, reappear in London.
It´s a novel concept of public space art, that through creative technologies and humour, tells a story that all Europeans are part of. Equipped with props from their own time, our time-travellers are happy to make friends with passers-by, and perhaps also to teach the people around them something new and quirky.