Augmenting Reality: Applications for AR technologies in the Art Market
We have come to know augmented reality (AR) as a digitally enhanced layer of the human experience facilitated through devices. Whether AR is experienced on the SuperWorld app as a geo-pinned object/artwork anchored in the real world, or through filters available through platforms like Instagram or Snapchat, AR applications have become increasingly far-reaching and highly useful.
When squaring this technology with the traditional art market and ever-evolving notions of contemporary art, AR presents immense opportunity for innovation. Firstly, AR technology allows the traditional art world to expand far beyond its wildest physical imaginations. Consider the highly talented and immersive working artist Olafur Elliason. Hailed among the vanguard of large-scale installation artists that immerse the physical being and invades the senses, his art has recently begun to include augmented reality.
WUNDERKAMMER, 2020 by Eliasson (available via the Acute Art app) represents a departure from the artist’s traditional large scale works and activates stylized seasonal elements, small artworks and experiments via AR. This playful artistic project was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and explores the impact when merging the physical beauties of nature with the whimsy of the digital landscape.
Beyond its practical applications in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, augmented reality art is powerful for its ability to push the boundaries of what can be considered art within the traditional space. In WUNDERKAMMER, we see Eliasson’s immersive practice reach new heights in a completely novel way, through the illusive beauty of AR. His work’s immersive majesty steeps the visitor in a variety of dizzying sensorial experiences which are reflected in his exploration of nature’s elements. Overall, we see the art world’s turn towards augmented reality as a sign of an evolving zeitgeist, one that divorces itself from fine art’s constraints.
AR is also shaking up the traditional art world in the form of guerilla art tactics. We see this in the work of Marjan Moghaddam’s Art Hacks. Exhibited since 2016, Moghaddam’s hacks are subversive and beautiful, all powered through XR technology. Her work demonstrates how digital art and especially augmented reality can democratize the art space and break down existing preconceived notions of what should be displayed in a gallery and what should not.
Additionally, AR’s capacity to expand the limits of the art world is not limited to traditional artistry’s turn towards the digital sphere. We currently see this technology merging with the innovation of NFTs, the blockchain and the metaverse. At SuperWorld, we see its application through the interactivity of our virtual real estate platform and AR mobile application. Creatives who own a plot of land are encouraged to take their artistry to the next level by anchoring their NFTs and artworks in the app, thus building an AR exhibition at their own fingertips.
Whether dipping into the art form as a contemporary fine artist or as a creative developing their practice through augmented reality technologies, AR is on the cutting edge of what is to come artistically. The possibilities for creating multiple augmented realities in one’s artwork are endless and unlike virtual reality, are far more accessible. Although like with any new technology at the forefront of society there is a steep learning curve, nevertheless, augmented reality software has proven to be user-friendly and able to conform to varying levels of skill. With the coming years we will surely see more artists arriving at this new medium, as well as some who will become reluctant due to its intangibility. Looking towards new horizons will lead the artistic community to exciting multi-layered futures.
About SUPERWORLD 🌎❤️
SuperWorld is a virtual world in augmented reality (AR), digitally mapped over the surface of the Earth. Plots of SuperWorld land are represented as 64.8 billion non-fungible tokens (NFT) corresponding to real world space. Any user in SuperWorld can explore and create AR content, engage in a virtual real estate marketplace, or buy and sell NFTs in the SuperWorld NFT Salon. To learn more, visit SuperWorldapp.com
