Introduction to Augmented Reality Art
Imagine if art could appear out of nowhere—as murals in motion on brick partitions, free-form phrases sprawled across the sky, or psychedelic sounds streaming through your earbuds. This is strictly what artist Ivan Toth Depeña has achieved together with his augmented reality app, Lapse. Depeña describes Lapse as a “decoder or magnifying glass that reveals hidden gems throughout the built environment.” The app consists of six multimedia components scattered across Miami, from downtown to the Design District, and even the rail line in between.
How Lapse Works
Through the lens of your smartphone camera and your GPS location, the app presents a completely latest experience of public—though not all the time visible—art. Depeña believes that technological advances are catching up with our imaginations, making it possible for anyone with a smartphone to take part in augmented reality. This technology is not any longer limited to tech circles and is increasingly expanding to achieve a wider audience.
Hidden Gems in Miami
One of the hidden gems to be uncovered in Lapse’s scavenger hunt is “The Visions,” a group of virtual murals on the outside of Locust Projects, in addition to the facade of the Cultural Plaza of Miami-Dade Public Library and other locations throughout Miami’s downtown. As one holds up the app to the pixels on each wall, a dense web of lines, shapes, and text will appear on the phone screen, blinking and flashing to suggest the imperceptible data networks that surround and connect us.
Collaborative Process
Lapse was a collaborative process from start to complete, with Depeña working alongside various artists and design-tech studio Heavy Projects. He believes that multiple minds are higher than one on the subject of pushing the boundaries of innovation. For “The Sounds,” an audio-based component, he reached out to Brad Laner of other rock band Medicine. The result’s a soundscape that changes based on where you might be on the MetroMover, Miami’s above-ground public rail system.
Exploring the City with Lapse
The metro will take you to Museum Park, where you possibly can unlock The Writing, a “virtual prose experience,” created with Miami artist Jillian Mayer. This piece reveals free-floating three-dimensional texts that ruminate on the longer term of humanity. Further north in Aventura, The Sculpture allows users to visualise virtual wind currents flowing around a sculpture that Depeña created for a 2015 Miami-Dade Art in Public Places commission.
The Future of Augmented Reality
Formally trained as an architect, Depeña fuses art, design, architecture, and technology in his practice. He believes that the longer term of augmented reality looks promising, and the overwhelming popularity of Pokémon Go is already giving the sector a wealth of exposure. However, unlike Pokémon Go, where users are inclined to remain glued to their screens, Depeña urges participants to “push outside” of themselves and use this technology to find the “nooks and crannies of the built environment.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, Ivan Toth Depeña’s Lapse app is a groundbreaking example of how augmented reality might be used to create immersive and interactive art experiences. By collaborating with other artists and using cutting-edge technology, Depeña has created a novel and interesting option to explore the town of Miami. As the sector of augmented reality continues to evolve, it is going to be exciting to see how artists like Depeña push the boundaries of what is feasible. With Lapse, Depeña hopes to encourage users to assume their very own world and to see the built environment in a brand new and progressive way.
