WORLDWIDE
2021
GOLD was a digital public art project originally developed in the context of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. The work explored the unifying power of sport as a shared global language, extending Noir’s visual language into animated sequences presented across public LED screens worldwide.
The project was shown across major cities including Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Kampala, Lagos, London, Kingston, New York and Los Angeles. Installed across more than 50 large-scale outdoor screens, GOLD created a continuous visual presence across time zones—following the movement of the sun from east to west, as if the work never ceased to circulate around the globe.
Presented across more than 50 outdoor LED screens in 11 international cities, GOLD reached audiences on an exceptional scale. The works were exhibited on some of the largest digital screens in the world, including landmark locations in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Kampala, Lagos, London, Kingston, New York and Los Angeles. As daylight moved from East to West, the project unfolded across successive time zones, creating the impression of a continuous global exhibition in which the artworks remained in motion somewhere around the world at every hour of the day.
Each installation responded to its specific urban environment. Noir’s animated figures occupied some of the most recognisable public spaces on the planet, including Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Oxford Street in London, Times Square in New York, Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and Gangnam in Seoul. Removed from the traditional setting of the museum or gallery, the works became part of the rhythm of everyday city life, encountered unexpectedly by commuters, shoppers and visitors as they moved through the public realm.
The animated sequences depicted a broad range of Olympic and international sporting disciplines, including the 100-metre sprint, freestyle swimming, skateboarding, canoe slalom, golf and trampoline. Rather than representing athletic competition in a literal way, Noir distilled each sport into its essential movement, using bold colour, simplified forms and continuous animation to celebrate energy, determination and human expression. The resulting works were playful and immediate, yet carried a deeper reflection on the capacity of sport to create moments of unity across cultures and generations.
At its core, GOLD reflected on sport as a mechanism for connection: a system capable of transcending political, cultural and national boundaries. Developed during a period of global uncertainty, the project considered how shared physical and symbolic gestures might restore a sense of collective presence.
Experienced simultaneously across multiple continents, GOLD became more than a series of digital artworks. It was conceived as a worldwide public exhibition without walls—one that followed the movement of the sun around the globe and reached millions of viewers through the everyday spaces of contemporary cities. Through scale, visibility and accessibility, the project reaffirmed Thierry Noir’s longstanding belief that public art should be democratic, optimistic and capable of bringing people together.
“GOLD celebrates sport. Like art, sport has the power to inspire, to unite and create hope. Sport breaks down barriers and dissolves political and cultural divisions. At a very difficult time in our collective history, sport has the power to bring the world back together.”
— Thierry Noir
