On June 25th and 26th, 2019, in Turin Italy, drones had a chance to make a major impact in the art world.  Four drones took to the sky to work as a team and create a massive mural in an urban environment.  It was one of the highlights of the first ever Italian Tech Week, a week when students, entrepreneurs, professional, and any curious individuals were invited to Turin to explore up and coming technologies.  The art installment was titled: UFO (Urban Flying Opera) and was commissioned by the Carlo Ratti Associati Studio.

The Carlo Ratti Associati is more than just an art studio.  It was founded by Carlo Ratti, an architect from Turin who has been called one of the most influential architects of our time.  He is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he runs the MIT Senseable City Lab.  This is a program that explores the changing relationships between technology and people in an urban setting.  Much of what is explored at the Carlo Ratti Associati in Turin focuses on similar principles such as how technology is also changing how we perceive and create art.

And the UFO project perfectly encompasses technology and art in a city environment.  The first step of the project was to crowd source images to go into the mural.  The studio collected over 1,000 drawings from people living in Turin.  These participants were asked to draw what they felt their city should look like.  Out of all the entries 100 drawings were selected to make up the mural.  This is the first time an art installment of this size has been created through crowd sourcing at this level, something that speaks volumes of the world today.

The next step in the project was to actually create the mural using drones.  This was done with help from another project that came out of Carlo Ratti Associat, Scribit.  Scribit is a robot that was designed by a group of people passionate about art and robotics.  It allows you to create and erase an image on a wall.  You simply upload the content to Scribit, place it on a vertical surface, and it autonomously creates the image  The software used to power Scribit is what was used to program the drones for UFO.

Once all the artwork was compiled and uploaded it was time for the drones to get to work.  Though the drones completed the mural autonomously, they were monitored by a team throughout the entire process for safety and precision reasons.  The canvas was set up in an industrial space previously owned by Italian car manufacturer Iveco in Aurelio Peccei park.  Each of the four drones were equipped with a can of sustainable spray paint in three colors, grey, magenta, and blue.

The first layer of the mural was done by the drones in grey paint that was used to set the story behind the piece.  The second layer was done using the magenta paint and represents the communities and public spaces of Turin.  And then finally the drones applied the blue paint to add in details that tie the narrative together.  The final piece measures 46’X39′, used a total of 24 cans of spray paint, and took 2 days to complete.

UFO was a perfect example of what Ratti strives for.  The combination of art, technology, architecture, and community in urban settings.  He said, “The city is an open canvas, where people can inscribe their stories in many ways.  Such processes have always been happening; however, with UFO we tried to accelerate them, using drone technology to allow for a new use of painting as a means of expression.”

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