Augmented Reality for Art

Both VR and AR have made some impressive advances over the past 2 years. New experiences are now possible. Things that lived only in our dreams a while ago, is now possible. In its simplest terms, AR uses technology to virtually change how you see the world around you. Augmented Reality for Art has some unusual ways of expression in art such as the following projects.

Not only in museums, AR-Augmented Reality is used in many Art forms. One of the interesting ones is the Rhondda Rips It up! of  Welsh National Opera combining  AR with Live Performance. The opera is about the tour of the life and adventures of a heroine of the Welsh Suffrage movement – Margaret Haig Thomas, the Viscountess Rhondda. Prior to this special performance, WNO (the innovator in the world of opera) was in search of a production that would further engage the audiences and augment the narrative.

Also, the famous MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York will be hosting an exhibition in October, 2018. Artists and curators Sander Veenhof and Mark Skwarek are putting together a Augmented Reality for Art Invasion in MOMA, as part of Conflux Festival. It is dedicated to “art and technology for the creative urban public space.” Curator Skwarek says: Augmented Reality is the new representation of adding virtual elements into our physical reality. These additions are viewable by pointing your contemporary smartphone to the world around you. The phone knows where you are and it connects to the internet to get the relevant images, visuals etc. It puts them into your view.” The temporary exhibition will only last a few hours.

Another art project worth mentioning is “HEAVY PROJECTS” creates large-scale art installations that utilize cutting-edge technologies. It has ways that explore the intersections of philosophy, art, and design. Its is an international pioneer in large scale mixed reality experiences.Itis the original augmented reality street artists by inventing the large scale outdoor AR murals. For example; the San Diego mural is the largest AR mural in the world at 60m x 8m .

Facebook’s first AR-driven art project with “Heather Day” is another good example of Augmented Reality for Art. Facebook has basic tools of AR. It is doing this now through a camera application on your phone. It was time to work with an artist to help us learn new techniques of making AR feel authentic and part of everyday life. Facebook has invited Heather Day to the Menlo Park campus-Headquarters. Th team planned her artwork to be virtually installed. Any time she poured paint, made a brush stroke or drew a pattern the team captured those movements on camera and added them to a digital library.

Within two weeks, Facebook team built the technology that would recognize the specific location for the art. They analyzed the scene geometry that made Heather’s virtual installation stick to real surfaces.