Now You See Me

A pair of interactive giant binoculars for the city streets

Now You See Me began as a commission for Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Originally titled I See The Future, the project was developed as a participatory public artwork exploring how communities imagine what lies ahead.

Two giant pairs of binoculars were installed on the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon in September 2019, prompting a simple but powerful question: what might this place become in 100 years?

Over a series of workshops and street-based encounters, the Anagram team gathered conversations, drawings, and reflections from people of all ages and backgrounds — capturing hopes, fears, and visions of the future.

These materials were transformed into animated films and layered within the binoculars, combining real-time views of the city with imagined futures. Each installation featured a distinct narrative, creating a dialogue between locations and perspectives.

In 2021, Now You See Me was commissioned by Curiocity in Australia to be put on the streets of Brisbane for the duration of March 2021.

A giant pair of binoculars curiously appear in public space – perhaps a busy high street, a white sand beach or in a train station.

From one end, the lenses are mirrored and eye catching. Striking, beautiful and recognisable as an object of use made giant, they easily draw interest and interaction.

When you look through them – as each person passes within a certain distance of the lenses, their image morphs and mutates.

Colours flash, textures bulge in and out, snapshots stay rooted in the air as each person dances around or flits past. From hidden speakers, sounds triggered by each mutation rumble and hiss.

These fun and mischievous oversized spyglasses are here to remind us: there is always to the world more than meets the eye!