If you find yourself in Germany’s Saale Valley, I’d like to recommend you take the train. You never know what you’re going to see! The Bewegtes (translation: moving) Land Project was a series of performance art scenes that transformed Germany’s Saale valley into an 18-mile-long stage, with passengers in passing trains as the unwitting audience. Over 500 locals participated in the event which was sort of like a broken-up flash mob. Vignettes included a hunter being chased by his tree stand, running bushes, cavemen, and a shark attack, to name a few. Station entertainers included marching bands and choirs, and there was even a character – played by 25 different people in a kind of behind-the-scenes relay race – who seemed to race the train and win!

Conceived and carried out by Jörn Hintzer and Jacob Hüfner, media artists and professors at the Bauhaus University Weimar, the project’s seconds-long scenes were meant as a comment on the bite-sized flashes of news and media we take in every day online.

The performers entertained a total of 24 trainloads of passengers over 2 days. All the participants interviewed agreed that the project encouraged a sense of community among the performers. What a great way to get to know your neighbors!