Have you ever dreamed of hanging works by leading artists around your home? Now you can do it for free, thanks to augmented reality or AR, as it is also called.
Images such as Olafur Eliasson's "solar friend" and Thomas Saraceno's "peacock spider" are among some of the works to display in your home - the only catch is that they won't physically be there, but they can be seen virtually via the app on your smartphone.
AR art is based on the technology that brought us the popular mobile game Pokemon Go, and is being adapted by contemporary artists such as KAWS, Cao Fei, and Judy Chicago.
The idea is to give viewers the opportunity to fix their art during a pandemic by placing digital artwork on surfaces inside and outside the home, merging science fiction with reality.
Danish-Icelandic artist Eliasson said: “It's about fantasy. - Being confined to his studio during these difficult times, I allow myself to engage in miracles. So place a rainbow over the kitchen table and the sun outside the door. We need some hope to look ahead. "
Daniel Birnbaum, director of AR platform Acute Art, said it's an "intimate" way to explore and relate to art while the galleries remain closed. "Users are becoming curators of their own shows, as an art game, and that's what makes it fun," - he added.
Although AR art has been around for several years, Birnbaum noted that it is becoming more sophisticated, capturing the imagination of people during blocking, and especially those who play and navigate the virtual and real worlds.
"I even know a few 70-year-olds who enjoy it, along with 85-year-old Picasso lovers!"
He explained that unlike virtual reality, "you don't need a headset, and it evolves very quickly."
"Olafur Eliasson's AR work has reached more people than the Venice Biennale, so this is a new opportunity," said Birnbaum, who recently launched the world's largest open AR exhibition in London before offering it to people at home.
Eliasson recently reached out to AR after three exhibitions were closed due to Covid-19. The environmental artist, renowned for his tactile and physical work, including his giant sun that lit up the Tate contemporary art gallery, is moving into a virtual world of "illusion and curiosity".
“The sun in your living room, as absurd as it sounds, is very warming, literally!” He said.
Eliasson has worked with Hollywood animators on a range of digital artwork, including a cloud that looks and sounds like rain and an animated dead end that moves and turns its head. He points out that the key challenge is to make objects look real in the home environment.
There are also environmental benefits, including "no shipping or storage costs," and people can take photos of their work and share with their friends.
But instead of challenging the traditional gallery space, he believes AR will complement it.
“Soon you will have a Michelangelo sculpture in your house, a David statue in your living room, and you can show it to your family, and then say,“ Let's go to Florence when Covid is done and you see the real thing. ”
Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno uses augmented reality to entice people to fight their fears by letting the giant spider roam freely in their homes. But instead of being creepy, Thomas hopes his eight-legged art friend will create a discussion about the extinction of spiders and how we can live harmoniously with them.
Saraceno says the art of spiders can be "beautiful", create an element of "surprise" and help combat arachnophobia. He has worked with doctors and psychologists in Germany along with the online spider community to pioneer new treatments to help people appreciate and reconnect with the natural world.
But of course, virtual art still needs money to function, and Kaws, one of the most recognized contemporary artists in the world, is one of the first to make money from augmented reality.
The limited edition virtual sculptures of his art companion (Expanded) are selling for $ 10,000 (£ 7,100) each in 25 editions, and now additional sculptural series of the cartoon character are being collected for $ 50,000 (£ 35,600) per copy starting with edition 10.
The former graffiti artist feels like he is coming full circle.
- I'm very comfortable with ephemeral works, and then you are left with the photographs. I hope people see this as a turning point in how you can survive the show. "
Cao Fei is also no stranger to new technologies and is experimenting with movies, virtual reality, avatars and robots.
Her AR piece Eternal Wave features a realistic portrayal of her son, lost in a computer game, exploring the themes of isolation and loneliness.
“AR art is portable and shareable,” she said. - It gives the user the ability to recreate the work of art so that it grows rather than static.
"As an artist, you have to give up some control, but when artists decide to use it, it opens up new possibilities."
Judy Chicago
Feminist landscape painter and writer Judy Chicago has been entertaining audiences with her colorful smoky sculptures since the late 1960s. AR users can now launch and enjoy them from their own backyards.
Judy says that for her, art is all about "discovery" and AR has the potential to "democratize art like print."
Her smoke sculptures are available through Google Play and the app store, and will also be featured in Desert X in the Coachella Valley.
Nina Chanel Abney launched her first AR play "Imaginary Friend" to mark the 57th anniversary of the historic Washington, DC march, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech.
The piece premiered at the Lincoln Memorial, which also coincided with the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks march offering advice and spiritual guidance. The Chicago-born political artist said she wants to give members an "always-on companion," especially those who suffer during difficult times.
Bjarne Melgaard with an ostrich egg can liven up your bathing time
Another artist, Bjarne Melgaard, often described as the direct heir to Edvard Munch, took his bronze sculptures of Octo with an ostrich egg and human bulb and gave them an AR treatment.
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"I was surprised how these old characters translate so well into a completely new environment, immaterializing them and transferring them into the virtual world," said the Norwegian artist.
London's Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park provided much more augmented reality space than the bathtub when Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "London Mastaba" hit the floating hit in 2018.
It will now become a permanent AR exhibition and a tribute to Christo, who died last year.