City Unseen was first unveiled in November of last year, featuring augmented-reality (AR)t exhibits throughout Orlando that people could view on their smartphones at any time.
Snap! Orlando’s “2.0” edition of City Unseen, found at the local art organization’s Snap! Space on East Colonial Drive in Mills 50 District, puts the focus on in-gallery interactivity and even more AR technology than the project’s first rendition.
While the local art organization was one of the early adopters of this type of technology-driven art, Snap! Orlando founder Patrick Kahn said others have joined.
“I’ve been talking since then to a lot of professionals in the industry,” Kahn said. “Everybody’s on the bandwagon, discovering this and asking, “What can they do? What are the reservations? How do we handle this?”
He said Apple is among the big players now producing augmented-reality experiences with their [AR]T Walk project, placing interactive installations around the world. Following more widespread use of AR with Pokemon GO, other industries — from furniture to architecture and the medical field — have embraced the technology now that it’s more consumer-ready.
The 2.0 version of City Unseen involves a range of technology-driven artworks including interactive holographic displays, a Twitter-driven project with patterned projections and fidget spinners and plenty of pieces that become enhanced with AR.
Orlando-based artist Ginger Leigh, also known as Synthestruct, is someone whose interest in coding, data and science rivals her interest in art. Leigh combines her two penchants to create installations such as “Transcode,” which is one of the new displays at Snap! Orlando.
“It captures a person’s image and translates it into thousands of particles that they can manipulate to create abstract versions of themselves and explore the idea of their physical self,” Leigh said. “It’s about figuring out the question of the self and other versions of the self.”
Leigh said one interpretation can represent how we spread fragments of ourselves around on different social media outlets. Another project in the new exhibit also takes a look at how chaotic our online lives can be.
“Dazzle Camouflage,” a reference to World War II-era camo that was meant to confuse rather than conceal, is artist Matt Robert’s way of exploring how hard it can be to find the facts.
“I kind of had this idea, especially like with the Trump administration. Things are so confusing, it’s really hard to find out what is the truth and what’s not,” Roberts said. “I have fidget spinners, anxiety objects, responding to Twitter traffic.”
The dazzle camouflage patterns are created and manipulated based on a search term on Twitter; fidget spinners also turn in response to a search’s popularity. The more popular the search, the more the patterns and spinners respond.
Though technology and art have immense potential when combined, Kahn said it’s important to make sure the art aspect is at the forefront.
“The main thing is to make sure that it stays artistic because it can easily become gimmicky very fast,” he said. “Where do you draw the line where it still stays in the realm of the art world? I’m trying to stay there.”
Those concerns tend to remain on the backburner for Kahn when thinking about how important tech is becoming in the art world.
“A lot of artists are already dealing with the tech. They are very agile and they know exactly what they’re doing,” Kahn said. “But I see a lot more traditional practice artists who are fascinated by this, asking ‘How can we utilize this in my own work?’ I think it has a really bright future.”
If you go: “City Unseen 2.0″ is on display at Snap! Space (1013 E. Colonial Dr. in Orlando) through Jan. 18, 2020. The gallery is open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. For more information, visit snaporlando.com.
Want to get in touch? You can find me on Twitter (@PConnPie), Instagram (@pconnpie) or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.
