PLANET CITY

PLANET CITY, Liam Young

PLANET CITY is an internationally acclaimed multiformat research-based body of work by architect and worldbuilder Liam Young that includes a short film, a VR experience, a book, and a physical exhibition. PLANET CITY is based on the creation story of an imaginary future city of 10 billion people, the entire population of Earth, where we have surrendered the remaining world to a global wilderness. It is a speculative fiction grounded in statistical analysis, research and traditional knowledge. It is a collaborative work of multiple voices and cultures supported by an international team of acclaimed environmental scientists and advisors. In Namur, we are presenting the short film and the VR experience, alongside a collection of handmade masks from the PLANET CITY storyworld.

The film

The film follows a continuous festival procession dancing through the city on a 365 day loop. Each day it intersects with a different carnival, culture and celebration, changing the beat as it goes, endlessly cycling through new colors, costumes and cacophonies. Designed and directed by Liam Young, the film also features costumes developed in collaboration with Ane Crabtree, costume designer of The Handmaid’s Tale, Westworld and Invasion and an original score by acclaimed electronic producer Forest Swords with vocals by Tunisian singer-songwriter Emel, whose protest song Kelmti Horra became an anthem for the Arab spring.

Australia, United States, 15 minutes, 2020
Film
Language | English

The virtual reality film

PLANET CITY VR is set in a fictional city of 10 billion people⁠ — the entire population of earth⁠. The world has succumbed to a global-scale wilderness and surrendered its stolen lands. The city’s creation story, narrated by a young climate activist and one of the city’s first citizens, is an extraordinary tale of tomorrow and an urgent examination of the environmental questions facing us today.

China, United States, 6 minutes, 2022
Virtual Reality Film | PEGI 7 | For all ages
Language | English

About the artist

Liam Young

Liam Young is a designer, director and BAFTA nominated producer who operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures. Described by the BBC as ‘the man designing our futures’, his visionary films and speculative worlds are both extraordinary images of tomorrow and urgent examinations of the environmental questions facing us today. As a worldbuilder he visualizes the cities, spaces and props of our imaginary futures for the film and television industry and with his own films he has premiered with platforms ranging from Channel 4, Tribeca, Venice Biennale, the BBC and the Guardian and they have been collected by MoMA, Smithsonian, Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria amongst many others.

Credits

General credits

Writer, Director, & Production Designer: Liam Young
VFX Supervisor: Alexey Marfin
Costume Producer (film): Ane Crabtree
VR Producers (VR): Well Played Studios, HTC Vive Arts
Original Score: Forest Swords (Matthew Barnes)
Vocals: EMEL
Mask Artists: Liam Young (High Altitude Bot Herder, Code Talker, Algae Diver, Drone Shepard), Zac Monday (Zero Waste Weavers Blue/Yellow), Aneesa Shami (Zero Waste Weavers Pink)

Film

Director & Production Designer: Liam Young
Costume Director/Producer: Ane Crabtree
VFX Supervisor: Alexey Marfin
VFX: Case Miller, Aman Sheth, Vivian Komati, Yucong Wang
Original Score: Forest Swords (Matthew Barnes)
Vocals: EMEL
Commissioned by NGV Melbourne & Ewan McEoin

Virtual reality film

Writer & Director: Liam Young
Producers: Well Played Studios, HTC Vive Arts
Lead Artists: Kayvan Boudai, Elliot Ordower, James Clark
3D Artists: Case Miller, Jeremy Kamal Hartley, Tien Tien Wang, William Chen
Cast: Chloe Coleman
Original Score: Forest Swords (Matthew Barnes)
Vocals: EMEL