'Station to Station' came out of a sense of urgency - a sense that culture, be it art, film or architecture, has become so compartmentalised. For this project, we wanted to break that and create a language that is more nomadic and less materialistic and really empowering for the creators and the audience.

Doug Aitken’s quote about Station to Station reflects a response to the compartmentalization of culture in the modern era. He expresses a sense of urgency—a pressing need to challenge the way art, film, architecture, and other disciplines have become increasingly segregated, each confined to its own institutional or conceptual silo. This fragmentation, according to Aitken, stifles the potential for creative exchange and cross-disciplinary innovation. The project Station to Station was his attempt to break down those boundaries and foster a more integrated cultural experience.

Aitken envisioned a language that is more nomadic, suggesting a form of creativity that is fluid, mobile, and free from rigid categorization. The term “nomadic” here implies both physical movement—Station to Station was itself a cross-country traveling art project—and intellectual movement across different mediums and perspectives. This mobility counters the static, materialistic tendencies of traditional art institutions and offers a new, empowering model for both creators and audiences.

By creating a project that travels, evolves, and invites spontaneous collaboration, Aitken reimagines how culture can be produced and consumed. Rather than limiting art to galleries or architecture to buildings, he fosters an environment where ideas flow freely, encouraging participation and co-creation. The emphasis on empowerment suggests that this model liberates artists from conventional constraints and gives audiences a more immersive, inclusive role in the creative process.

The quote originates from Aitken’s commentary on the inception of Station to Station, a groundbreaking 2013 project that brought together artists, musicians, filmmakers, and designers aboard a train traveling across the United States. It served as both a moving studio and a platform for live performance, documentation, and cultural exchange. Aitken’s vision was rooted in challenging the status quo of how culture is curated and presented, replacing fixed frameworks with an open, experiential journey through creativity.