The Creators Project “Augmented Reality Augmenting The Art World”

Augmented Reality Augmenting The Art World -- by Julia Kaganskiy
The ability to superimpose additional information on a physical object is one of the most exciting aspects of AR, and one that is utilized to convey a poignant political message by artists Skwarek and Hocking. Although the BP oil scandal has died down considerably since the oil flow in the Gulf has been (finally) put to a stop, it was arguably the largest national disaster we’ve witnessed since Katrina. Still, both the government and the public seemed relatively unphased by the travesty, likely because it didn’t seem to affect them directly. Hocking and Skwarek’s iPhone app art piece hopes to eliminate that sense of distance by confronting the viewer with the realities of that gaping oil hole under the sea every time they see a BP logo, turning the logo into a tube hemorrhaging barrels of oil. The app is an interesting demonstration of how AR can be used to overcome the limitations of the physical world and make seemingly distant objects or information feel more immediate and relevant.