Darkened Cities by Thierry Cohen imagines the starry skies we’d see in urban areas if we turned off all the lights.
About the project:
Before these pictures can exist, the sky from one place has to be superimposed upon cityscape from another. It is impossible to see this detail in the night sky above a city. Atmospheric and light pollution combine to make looking into the urban sky like looking past bright headlights while driving.
By travelling to places free from light pollution but situated on precisely the same latitude as his cities, Cohen obtains skies which, as the world rotates about its axis, are the very ones visible above the cities a few hours earlier or later. To find the right level of atmospheric clarity, Cohen has to go into the wild places of the earth, the Atacama, the Mojave, the western Sahara.
As more and more of the world’s population becomes urban, and as we lose our connection with the natural world, so it becomes plain that damage is caused by light pollution. There may be connections to certain cancers, and there are psychological burdens of permanent day. The ‘city that never sleeps’ is made up of millions of individuals breaking natural cycles of work and repose. Lose sight of the sky, and you become a rat in a lab.
Cohen hasn’t simply shown us the skies that we’re missing. His cities look dead under the fireworks display above No lights in the windows, no tracers of traffic. They are (in fact) photographed in daylight, when lights shine out less brightly. In urban mythology the city teems with energy and illumines everything around it. Cohen’s pictures are crafted to say the opposite. These are cold cities, cut off from the seemingly infinite energies above.
DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW
GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY
YOU’RE SO FUCKING SLOW
AND FAT, WHAT DO YOU WEIGH
HA-HA-HA
YOU CAN’T FUCKING SING
I’LL START A FUCKING FIGHT
GET OUT MY WAY YOU FUCKING HO
I’M DRIVING HERE TONIGHT
JINGLE BELLS, GO TO HELL
GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY
OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE
OVER BODIES EVERY DAY (HEY)
JINGLE BELLS, GO TO HELL
BITCH WHAT DID I SAY
RUN THAT ASS CUZ YOU CAN’T HIDE
FROM MY MOTHERFUCKING SLEIGH
Прометей. Сокращённый Сценарий.
Скорее всего, планета Земля, до хрена времени назад
ЗАГАДОЧНЫЙ ИНОПЛАНЕТЯНИН выходит прогуляться и узнает, что Ридли Скотт собирается снимать приквел первого “Чужого”.
ЗАГАДОЧНЫЙ ИНОПЛАНЕТЯНИН: Проспорил.
(наедается чёрного йогурта и прыгает с водопада)
Шотландия, наше время.
НУМИ РАПАС копается в камнях, находит какую-то фигню и бежит к ЛОГАНУ МАРШАЛЛУ-ГРИНУ.
НУМИ: Это величайшее открытие в истории! Смотрите! Этим надписям сто миллионов лет!
ЛОГАН: Здесь написано “Цой жив”…
НУМИ: Это перевернёт абсолютно все представления о Вселенной!
ЛОГАН: …а вон “Рэп это кал” ещё.
НУМИ: Послания инопланетных цивилизаций! Это приглашение! Немедленно летим туда!
ЛОГАН: Ок.
