PHOTOGRAPHY_ Right now 50% of the world's population live in cities, by 2050, this figure will grow to 70%. The people who live in these cities are continually challenging how we use and experience this urban space. Whether we like it or not the urban build environment runs through our veins, there's nothing more beautiful and tragic than this affair between concrete, steel, glass and the people who go about their lives in and around it.
There is no better place to see this majestic relationship than from the top of a building looking down, this is where the eternal and fleeting world meet, at the boundary between earth and sky. It has always been in our -human- nature to want to explore our surroundings, but now that we live in cities many have shelved this instinct. Roof toppers are now taking this instinct to a whole new level.
The challenge was simple-bring the rooftopping experience to people who have never experienced it before. The photographer Tom Ryaboi assembled a team of rooftoppers from around the world (Seatle, Hong Kong, and Melbourne and himself from Toronto) and they went to work. What they created was an interactive exhibition on one of Paris' most prestigious rooftops, the Publicis Groupe Headquarters on the Champs Elysees.
On this roof they created a room that is 4 x 3 meters, it consists of a video screen from corner to corner, on the floor. When you walk onto the roof you're actually standing on a huge screen, and when the experience starts you find yourself on the edge of a building, holding on for dear life.
Tom Ryaboi http://www.tomryaboi.com/
Aurelie Curie - http://www.aureliecurie.com/
Andrew Tso - http://www.tsotography.com/
Taran Cypher - http://soreeyelidsphoto.tumblr.com/
When: Jan 16-21
Where: 133 Champs Elysees (rooftop), Paris
© 2008 - 2013 Tom Ryaboi
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