Artist Peter Root enjoys what others might define as a tedious process of constructing cities and landscapes on very tiny scales. Much of Root's traditional work explores all kinds of “fictional landscapes created through an exploration of techniques,” from everyday office supplies to carved potatoes. In this project entitled Ephemicropolis, Root took simple staples and transformed them into a miniature metropolis. Breaking rows of the thin metal supplies into varying heights, Root organized the piles into an urban collection of tall and short buildings along the floor of a financial building in the Channel Islands.
The tallest “buildings” are full stacks of staples that stand just 12cm high while other structures are simply one single staple arranged precisely in place within the development. He spent 40 hours creating Ephemicropolis, using 100,000 staples in the project. Below, you can watch the video of the city being created in fast forward.