Attractive architectural masterplans visualising harmonious public spaces, new housing complexes, and carefully restored heritage sites portray a city yet to come. The real-life counterpart of this image, however, is a city under constant construction. What, then, do progress and change actually look like?

Chrysanthi Koumianaki plans, renders, draws and compiles mood boards, much like urban planners and architects do. Rather than projecting into the future, however, she works with the urban architecture we encounter, use and even co-produce in our real-time city.

The artist designs a stage where traffic signs, roadblocks, graffiti tags, gum, and stickers gradually turn into props, or abstract elements of a drawing of a developing city. Construction workers in orange outfits, skaters and strollers become actors in a play we all take part in, rehearsing the future of our urban environment.

Visuals © Tom Callemin