The World at Night
Past Exhibition
Begin: 07.10.2011
End: 31.03.2012
till SUN April 1, 2012
“The World at Night” (TWAN) is not only the title of this exhibition; it’s also the name of a global project showcasing breathtaking shots of the night sky designed to make people aware of our Earth’s beauty.
TWAN was initiated in 2007 by Babak A. Tafreshi, an Iranian, for Astronomers Without Borders (AWB). The project really took off in 2009, the International Year of Astronomy. Ever since, in the spirit of AWB’s watchwords—“One people, one sky”—photographers from all over the world have been shooting images of the night sky above historic sites and incredible landscapes as a sign that beholding the heavens above is something that connects us to everyone else on Earth.
The images not only show significant places located throughout the world; they also acquaint us with the fundamentals of astronomy. They document configurations of planets and constellations of stars, astronomical as well as atmospheric phenomena. These are sights that almost all of us can behold with the naked eye, as long as we don’t happen to find ourselves in one of the increasing number of places worldwide in which light pollution prevents us from seeing them.
“The World at Night” at the Ars Electronica Center is the first-ever TWAN exhibition that is strictly digital.
We wish to thank Babak A. Tafreshi (founder of TWAN), Johannes Stübler (AWB’s Austrian national coordinator and special ambassador; TWAN Austria event coordinator) and Dietmar Hager (astronomical counselor of Ars Electronica) for helping to design the exhibition’s content.
Video editing: Ars Electronica Futurelab
Exhibits
TWAN-Globe
Use the Globe to select spots all over the world from which you’d like to gaze up in wonder at the nighttime sky!
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TWAN-Community
Part of the exhibition is the presentation of the 30 permanent photographers of TWAN.
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