Augmented Reality Art
![Joseph Wilk d[-_-]b](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:88:88/1*7cR8ubhplc1LLPyyArrdHA.jpeg){kind=small}
Exploring projects that support attaching and viewing digital assets in physical spaces. Part of my research for the project “Wheel trails”, exploring digital street art created through the motion of wheel based mobility.
Drawing with lines
Just a line is a project drawing a line in 3D space with your phone’s motion. Activating a pen with adjustable thickness with your finger. There is clearly a little smoothing in mapping pen motion to camera motion. Sharp and faster movements are not possible.
Drawing requires detecting a surface first which it does without a depth camera.
It supports collaborative drawing with one other person, connecting via Bluetooth. Drawings are shared via exported videos of viewing the drawing from your camera.
Drawing with images or text
Weird Type by Zach Lieberman and Molmol Kuos creates text or snapshots with various effects using your phone to position them in 3D space. Users export a video of their drawing and viewing to share. This project has triggered a lot of creative play with people exploring and sharing their work.
Auditory
The nARratives project by Boomsatsuma & Iconic Black Britons used an AR app to add animations and auditory stories to street art in Bristol.
Future Visions
Too Much Information by Keiichi Matsuda’s was a projection of what AR might become in the future. Each photo was mocked up with simulated AR imagery. It focuses on a dystopian outcome where the world has potentially gone too far with AR.
Projected
Using one or more projectors to make the digital visible without looking through a device. One example is a project called Augmented bubbles which shows bubble shadows on a wall when a person blew on a physical device.
Keyfleas by Miles Peyton is another example with more interaction. It uses a downward facing projector to create little light dots which behave like a swarm. When the user presses a key they move towards the edges of that key.
Streamed
A project by Harald Haraldsson, A/B was a AR livestream with audience participation. Audiences voted live on a direction for the participant to follow.
Exploration in personal space
Wunderkammer is a project by Olafur Eliasson. It uses natural elements, small artworks, and experiments from the artist that people via the app can add to their personal space and explore. There seems to be a lot of AR style apps in this guise that take a digital asset and allow you to explore it in your own space.
Exploration in Installation space
Rachel Rossin is an artist who uses AR with her physical work. In “I’m my loving memory” tablets are suspended from the ceiling and provide a view of the installation with augmented digital assets that move around the physical perspex sculptures.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNAjQaHFU1B/?igshid=wzp2hv6yq92o
Performance
Artist Sian Fan has created lots of interesting performance pieces using AR and VR. Her project Conduit uses a digital avatar controlled through motion captured live from a dancer. A combined performance between human dancer and avatar.
The piece “Orbit” again by Sian Fan, uses cameras mounted on the body of two dancers and a live stream with augmented effects. Based on what each cameras sees different augmented objects are introduced into the scene.
Support
Commissioned and supported by Unlimited, celebrating the work of disabled artists, with funding from SouthBank Centre and Arts Council England.
Thanks to everyone who helped contributed links and projects for this post.
![Joseph Wilk d[-_-]b](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:144:144/1*7cR8ubhplc1LLPyyArrdHA.jpeg)