The AR in Art

Guided city tours are all the rage these days. Some tend to get repetitive, which is when you have to hand it to companies doing things a little differently. We didn’t realise the company in question would be Apple, but in hindsight, it’s not surprising. 

As part of their augmented reality experiences called [AR]T, the US tech behemoth hosted experiential art walks in August that projected vibrant visual layers onto the urban landscapes of New York, Tokyo, Paris, London, Hong Kong and San Francisco. Co-curated with the New Museum in Bowery, NY, visitors could sign up for walks that featured AR installations by contemporary artists Nathalie Djurberg, Nick Cave, Hans Berg, John Giorno, Carsten Höller, Cao Fei and Pipilotti Rist. 

The project, where iPhone users could point their device at installations to enjoy the artwork, was meant to “connect participants to public spaces such as London’s Trafalgar Square, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens or New York’s Grand Army Plaza in Central Park.” Here’s a look at what popped up:

These experiential art walks haven’t been announced for Indian cities yet, but you can still get a taste of the experience. We’re told that Amass, an AR painting by Nick Cave, is available for viewing at Apple stores across the globe.