Students at Dundee University will see their project brighten up the city’s Christmas.
Share Square will light up City Square next Friday as the pictures and stories of Dundonians are broadcast on to the walls.
The project is the brainchild of four Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design third year digital interaction designers.
Sophia Bradley, Richard Cahill, Rachael Farquharson and Kirsty Sneddon developed the project, which allows residents to upload photos from their smartphones through an app during the festive season.
Once a picture is uploaded to the Share Square database, it will be projected on to walls throughout the city centre for up to five minutes.
The project got the green light after it garnered the attention of John Gray, planning officer for public art for the city council.
It will form part of the city’s Christmas Light Night, which will also involve a torchlight procession, street theatre from Dundee and Angus College HND acting students and a fireworks finale.
Richard Cahill said: “It comes from a belief that every surface can be a screen, and that we can see the people of a city on its walls.
“It was amazing really, this was just a project and suddenly it happened.”
Share Square designer Kirsty Sneddon said: “When Dundee council approached us about developing Share Square at the Christmas light celebrations, we were all very excited.
“Eager to show everyone how this idea could brighten up the city, we are looking forward to helping turn the city square into a playful, interactive space.
“With such a big turnout expected, the switching on of the Christmas lights is the perfect event for us to launch Share Square and it’s exactly the type of audience we think will embrace the idea.
“We all hope that on the night, Share Square will not only delight the visitors and locals, but also make the city seem much brighter and creative.”
The project began as a vision built from technology that did not exist for a piece of coursework, but when it caught the eye of council bosses, it was revamped to be more practical.
Sophia said: “We originally envisioned being able to point to pictures on the wall, and they would expand with text to tell that person’s story, that’s part of our course, to imagine things that don’t yet exist.”
Richard said: “Our course is a marrying of the geeks and the artists.
“We have to be very technical and at the same time there is a lot of creativity.”