carlo ratti and olafur eliasson join forces in attempt to create 'world's largest mosaic'

scribit, the carlo ratti-invented robot that turns vertical surfaces into canvases, has teamed up with olafur eliasson’s non-profit little sun to draw an ever-changing sun path chart on people’s walls. the resulting drawing has the ambition of becoming ‘the world’s largest mosaic’, simultaneously reaching the homes of thousands of people to remind us that we are all connected by the sun. the collaboration is a personalized call to action through art and for the future of our planet. ‘scribit challenges the paradigm of art as confined to a precise time and location,’ explains carlo ratti. ‘it narrows the gap between viewer and artist. instead of a fleeting encounter, art becomes a dialogue, an exchange, an evolving interaction.’

all images © federico morando | video © scribit

conceived as a ‘printer for walls’, scribit is a write and erase robot that can turn any vertical surface into a low-refresh screen on which to display information from the web, user-generated content, and art. meanwhile, little sun — for which olafur eliasson was awarded THE DESIGN PRIZE 2017 in the category of EXPERIMENTATION — brings solar lamps to areas with no access to electricity, providing a clean alternative to toxic and expensive fuel-based lighting. ‘little sun is a response to our present situation,’ says olafur eliasson. ‘energy shortage and unequal energy distribution demand that we reconsider how our life-sustaining systems function. I see little sun as a wedge to open up this urgent discussion from the perspective of art, to raise awareness about energy access and the unequal distribution of energy today.’

as part of the experience, scribit owners are now able to input a specific date, hour, and location into the app connected to the robot, generating a unique representation of the position of the sun in the sky at their chosen time and place. when the vertical plotter receives the information, it activates and draws the custom chart on a wall, canvas or other vertical surface. each sun path chart is part of something bigger — a visual, collective statement for climate action that reunites and connects people under the same sun. since scribit is able to repeatedly draw and erase content, users are able to update their personal home graffiti as often as they please, redefining its meaning and appearance time after time. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

project info:

scribit originals #1 was created by scribit & little sun
scribit is a project by CRA-carlo ratti associati in collaboration with makr shakr
scribit team: carlo ratti, andrea baldereschi (CMO), andrea bulgarelli (CTO), danilo ronchi (developer), ivan lunardi (senior developer), matteo palmieri (UX/UI designer), giorgia ori (partnership manager), svilena sivova (community & event manager), federico morando (digital content specialist) in collaboration with the little sun team