In 1972, the Blue Marble photo of Earth from Apollo 17 marked a paradigm shift: the image of a solitary sphere floating in space became the icon of a unified, borderless, and vulnerable planet, and catalyzed an appeal to a “global humanity” around an ecosystem that we all share.

Forty years later, the Black Marble, a cloudless view of the Earth’s lights at night, became the new portrait of our planet. Similarly borderless, this image provides evidence of the extent of the human footprint on the planet, rendering humanity as a continuous network of capital and exchange. Of course, the image also shows those left out of the network—people living “in the dark”—and bright, personless spaces of capital—power plants, military bases, tourist resorts.

The Black Marble doesn't simply represent this world—it actively constructs it. The night time lights dataset is put to work by a range of political and economic actors to craft policies and interventions, shaping the boundaries of inclusion in and exclusion from a global citizenry.

In Plain Sight reveals anomalies in the dataset— places with many people and no lights, and those with bright lights and no people—exposing the political and social realities of being invisible to systems of global data collection and representation.

Exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, United States Pavilion curated by Niall Atkinson, Ann Lui, and Mimi Zeiger.

collaborated on video concept, animation, sound design, and supplemental research with Robert Gerard Pietrusko.

Project leads
Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Laura Kurgan, Center for Spatial Research
Robert Gerard Pietrusko, Warning Office

Diller Scofidio + Renfro
James McNally

Center for Spatial Research, Columbia University
Grga Basic
Dare Brawley
Will Geary

Warning Office
Adam Kai Ng
Scott March Smith