Adam Whittsell
AR – what is it
AR is Augmented Reality of course. That’s what it stands for. But that also introduces a very, kind off, broad spectrum of things. And people define it in different ways. I would define it as a digital layer on top of the real world that in some way is in relationship to the real world. It’s not just an abstract thing. Lying on top of ... not relating to ... It somehow relates to the physical space situation it is in I would say. I mean you could of course say that you have an abstract floating hologram is AR. But if that doesn’t in any sense relate to the people in the space, or the space around it I don’t think it’s really any point in talking about it as an augmented reality. That is more like virtual reality to me even if it is overlaid. So, that’s how I would, as a medium for artistic expression. Best practices in any kind of practical terms is that you need to decide which bucket you are going to work in, for a start. But, as a general best practice I would refer back to what I talked about. That this is about augmenting the space or the situation. Best practice is to relate it to something. What is the point of it. Why are you using it in relationship to the bodies or the spatial situation you are in. What does it add, what does it augment in that sense is how I would start to think about it. To start, kind off, see where it fits or not. Or what it might ... add, or change in the situation. Normally the digital layer is very invisible ... in a sense. It’s the phone you have in your pocket or etc. In AR you can suddenly have a dialogue with the audience in a different setting. That could be as a stage performance, where the audience use AR or, you use projection mapping to, kind off, tell another layer. Which might also be interactive. Which is an interesting point. There might be ways for the audience to become more than a passive audience by also interacting in some way. And that AR layer could be the medium for that interaction or that feedback loop between the artists and the audience. But also, if you were to talk about it as in you’re sharing things on TikTok or you’re developing choreography or whatever it might be where you use AR as a way to augment yourself. Or, as a way to create tension between you and something else to kind of interact with. Yeah, so the possibilities are I think, on one hand to enhance the live moment and possibly even on a remote place. So you make a live performance that have AR add-ons on the video stream that you stream out to an audience outside. So it would also be AR if you have an ensemble who has augmented face masks on them on the stream that the audience that are remote sees, not the audience at the space itself. So, that’s one possibility I think is super interesting for stage art. And the other one, as I said, is how you can use it, when you by yourself is, either talking about your role or your place in social media etc. You can create, you can use AR, filters or body filters or room filters to create a tension, a story. Something to tell, something to play against. Which makes more interesting content. But also artistically you can create things that are hard to do in other ways if you don’t have an ensemble with you or if you do things by yourself.