UFO-Urban Flying Opera by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati

CRA unveils the world’s first crowdsourced graffiti, designed by thousands of people and painted by a swarm of drones in the city of Torino, Italy. The UFO-Urban Flying Opera project is funded by Compagnia di San Paolo, ideated and curated by CRA, and coordinated and produced by Fondazione LINKS, in collaboration with Tsuru Robotics.

Designed by thousands of people and painted by a swarm of drones in the city of Torino, Italy. The large-scale painting (14×12-meter, or 46×39-foot) was developed as part of UFO-Urban Flying Opera, a participatory technology and art project funded by Compagnia di San Paolo, ideated and curated by CRA, and produced by Fondazione LINKS, in collaboration with Tsuru Robotics.

The final vertical graffiti was created by four UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) flying simultaneously over two consecutive days. Each drone carried a tank of sustainable spray paint and sketched the individual designs on the canvas. The final painting was divided in three layers: A gray one to set the story, a magenta one to represent Torino’s communities and public spaces, and a light blue one to visually wrap the storytelling.

The experiment in Torino’s Aurelio Peccei park, on the outskirts of the city, represented the first time a swarm of drones was employed to create a collaborative piece of art on a vertical surface. A central management system controlled the UAVs’ behavior in real time, and a monitoring system tracked their precise location, allowing for movement coordination across the entire formation.

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The drone performance took place on June 25th and 26th, 2019, in a cathedral-like industrial structure that used to belong to Italian car manufacturer Iveco. The event was part of the Italian Tech Week. Project participants were invited to contribute visual content that would convey their thoughts, hopes and ideas regarding what cities should look like.

More than one thousand people submitted their designs, out of which around 100 were selected in partnership with the University of Turin and the Polytechnic University of Turin. Participants used about 620 meters (2,034 feet) of paint. The initiative is the latest development in CRA’s research on vertical drawing and participatory design. Source by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati.

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• Location: Turin, Italy
• Architect: CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati
• CRA Design: Carlo Ratti, Antonio Atripaldi (project manager), Luca Giacolini, Chiara Morandini, Chiara Borghi, Andrea Galli, Alessandro Tassinari. CRA Make: Emanuele Rossetti, Alessandro Peretti Griva, Luca Cianfriglia. Scribit: Andrea Baldereschi, Federico Morando, Mahsa Borzoo
• Collaboration: Tsuru Robotics
• Producer: Fondazione LINKS
• Promoted: Compagnia di San Paolo
• Video: Actingout
• Photographs: Andrea Guermani, Courtesy of CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati

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