This Footage of Deserted International Cities Shows Them as Never Before—and It Was Shot Long Before the World Was on Lockdown

Isolated inside our homes and apartments, our worlds have
suddenly shrunk.

But a striking project just made public by artists and
brothers Parker and Clayton Calvert is a reminder of
the expansive beauty of empty cities such as New
York, Rome, Florence, and Siena.

What is especially notable about their quiet images of some of
the world’s most famous places, all shot from above with a drone,
is that they were taken not during the current lockdown, but on
early Sunday mornings in 2014 and 2015, before most people
were out and about.

“We felt like we were filming this empty New York,” Parker
Calvert told Artnet News. “It’s about the only time that New
York kind of sleeps.”

The artists filmed at the same time of day in Siena and
Florence, and in Rome after the city was temporarily paralyzed by a
rare snowstorm.

But the strange new normal of stay-at-home orders around the
world lends their trio of short films (NYC by
Air, Siena by Air, and Roma + Firenze
by Air) a newfound resonance.

The pair began experimenting with drones after they
became commercially available in 2014, using them to shoot
images of Hudson Yards as it was under construction in New
York.

“I think artists are obliged to use new digital tools for their
practice,” Clayton Calvert said. “I’m an oil painter, and my first
thought was of Leonardo da Vinci, who used to paint overhead views
of cities without ever having seen them from above. If Leonardo
were alive today, he would love to fly a drone.”

But if Leonardo were around, he would have already missed his
opportunity, at least in New York, where drone flights are now
restricted through geofencing measures.

“When we were flying in New York, there was no geofencing,”
Clayton said. “We were just in the right place at the right
time.”

“We knew that because it was a new frontier, there was a lot of
gray area,” Parker added. “The laws were very unclear.”

And even though they were fairly confident they were operating
within legal limits, the Calverts always took safety precautions.
Waking up at the crack of dawn made for dramatic footage, but it
also limited the chance of collisions.

“No footage is worth any risk to people, animals, or landmarks,”
Parker said.

Dangers aside, they are happy to finally share their work with
the public in a strange new time.

“It is weird looking at these videos now, where you see very
little movement in the streets,” Clayton said. “Italy is dealing
with a massive health crisis, and New York City is the epicenter
here in America. It’s such a strange moment for both countries.
Looking at the footage now, it feels like the right time in a very
odd kind of way, to share it with more people.”

See more images, as well as each of the three films, below.

The post This Footage of Deserted International Cities Shows
Them as Never Before—and It Was Shot Long Before the World Was on
Lockdown appeared first on artnet News.