Citizens Bank

The Living Portrait of NYC

When Citizens Bank moved to New York City, it knew it had to become a part of the city’s fabric – and quickly. So we created a 10,000-square-foot, multi-sensory experience to help it get to know its 8.8 million new neighbors.

The Living Portrait of New York, was a celebration of New Yorkers from all walks of life, collecting and putting their stories center stage across four unique portraits.

A data portrait gave visitors a 30,000 foot view of the city based on open source city data and a custom survey of over 5000 New Yorkers, reflecting our habits and idiosyncrasies. An audio portrait zoomed in to intimate “Only in New York” stories captured from over 200 hours of one-on-one interviews with the New Yorkers who lived them. A multimedia portrait condensed a 24-hour-day of life in the city into a 9 minute film presented across a custom-built 240-panel screen. And finally, a communal portrait invited visitors to interact by answering a series of prompts about their own New York experience and generating a unique video tile that became a part of an evolving mosaic of New Yorkers.

The Living Portrait of New York brought the community together to remember what makes New York, New York – its people.