Apple to launch augmented-reality art tours in six global cities, including Hong Kong
- Three years after Pokemon Go popularised augmented reality, tech giant to begin guided walks whose participants view sites enhanced by computer-generated art
- A separate AR work will be visible to iPhone users in Apple stores worldwide, and stores will offer hands-on lessons in how to create augmented-reality art
Fans of augmented reality will soon be chasing after more than monsters on the streets of Hong Kong.
Apple on Tuesday announced a series of immersive public art experiences based on its augmented reality platform, with the highlight being a two-hour walking tour available in six cities from August 10 until the end of the year.
These [AR]T Walks will be held daily in Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Paris, New York and San Francisco for groups of up to 10 people at a time.
Here’s how it works: a docent issues participants with iPhones and earphones and takes them along a route where they will come across new AR works created by seven international artists through a phone app. This will be familiar to anyone who has played Pokemon Go or other mobile AR games, but [AR]T Walk is also an interesting way of expanding the definition of public art – these works are site-specific but exist only on participants’ phones.
Cao Fei, a Chinese artist born in Guangzhou, is one of the seven artists chosen by curators from New York’s New Museum for the project – selected because they are not known for working with AR and also because they all use very different media.
Cao’s AR work for Apple is a cross between an amusement-park ride and factory assembly line, and reminiscent of her anti-utopian videos about labour and automation. The tour participants will be able to manipulate levers and boxes using their phones in order to create an orderly flow or total chaos.
Carsten Höller, best known for his large-scale installations, has made an AR portal that flattens the viewer’s surroundings and removes perspective. Participants will have to engage with the work by using their touchscreens and their bodies to turn things back to normal.
These two works will “appear” alongside creations by Nick Cave, John Giorno, Pipilotti Rist and the artist duo Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg that are “installed” in locations such as Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, London’s Trafalgar Square, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens and New York’s Grand Army Plaza in Central Park.
There are two other elements to the Apple AR art series.
So tactile you want a feel: Kohei Nawa’s beguiling sculpture
Cave has made a separate AR work that can be viewed in any Apple store around the world. His Amass comes alive through an iPhone (version 8 or above) and the Apple Store app, and users activate and collect “Ikon Elements” – psychedelic geometric shapes, hearts and smileys full of positive energy.
A 90-minute workshop, called [AR]T Lab, will also be staged regularly at the stores to offer hands-on lessons in how to create AR art.
