PointOfView connects cities across the seas through an interactive installation that uses lighthouses on the shores of cities around the world. The public is invited to visit the lighthouse close to them and use a specialized digital binoculars in order to observe the view seen from a different lighthouse elsewhere in the world. The viewed area will be marked by a light projector that will both light the observed area and mark the observers view for locals to notice.

PointOfView is inspired by the romantic notion of staring into universal space through the symbol of the lighthouse. Lighthouses are both a visible landmark of a place for the world to see as well as a tower overlooking the sea and the rest of the world. PointOfView uses interactive technology that makes use of the world wide web in order to connect, in real time, different physical spaces.

PointOfView gives a new meaning to the phrase twin cities and makes art and technology accessible to the local residents and the general public. More so, the project helps to connect different cultures and creates a digital interface which acts as a unique physical manifestation of the world wide web.

PointOfView is a starting point. The long term vision is to connect many lighthouses around the world, creating a dynamic web of intercultural mutual observation. We hope the peep holes created by PointOfView will create a ripple effect of social and cultural initiatives and dynamic interactions, beyond its initial scope of action.

PointOfView will build upon connections with local cultural institutions, cross border initiatives and cultural exchange projects. Through PointOfView, we hope to continue researching new ways to use interactive web based technologies to create meaningful user experience and exciting human cultural happenings. We believe that the unique combination of digital and physical, historical and current, social and technological are the base of new media social engaging art. Though local communities are a main target group, we believe that PointOfView, being a web based project will reach a much larger audience. We plan to embed a web documentation of the project as well as a live feed that can be visible from anywhere around the world.