Almost a year ago we told you about (Un)seen Sculptures, and Australian augmented reality art exhibit at the Surry Hills Festival featuring 3D models created by 13 artists from across the globe. The digital exhibit returns again this year, presented by dLux MediaArts as part of Sydney Art Month, and is currently seeking submissions from artists.

If you’re not sure what a mobile 3D augmented reality art show is, (Un)seen Sculptures describes itself as “a sculpture walk composed entirely of virtual 3D works that have been ‘placed’ at specific geographic locations.” Using Layar, visitors to the exhibit can view the sculptures (and any accompanying media) with their smartphone.

To submit your 3D digital artwork, you’d better act fast, the deadline is this Saturday, February 25th. Essentially, anything that works on Layar should be accepted, but make sure to keep models below 5,000 polygons and, in general, keep any files to a low size to avoid slow load times.

Submissions should include the following:

• Artist name.
• Title of work.
• Any additional subtitles to be displayed in Layar.
• 200 dpi image of the artwork (for printed promotional purposes).
• An artist statement of short description of the work.
• Link to the artist’s website.
• 3D files of the artwork.
• Any accompanying media files.

Any submissions or questions should be sent to filmcement[at]gmail.com. For full descriptions of requirements and guidelines for submission, see this PDF. We’re looking forward to seeing what makes its way into the show this year!

Layar Pioneers John Goto and Matthew Leach recently brought to our attention a Layar Vision project which they created to help enhance the artwork of 18th century artist Joseph Wright in his hometown of Derby, UK.

The artist and developer tandem teamed with Derby’s Museum and Art Gallery, as well as the Royal Crown Derby Museum to help celebrate Wright’s work and relationship with the famous Derby porcelain factory. Now anyone who visits the museums and views Wright’s work can simultaneously view related porcelain sculptures placed into the artwork digitally with Layar.

“The beauty of feature tracking is that the overlay can be exactly positioned” says Goto, who along with Leach used Layar Vision’s feature tracking technology to create the artistic montages.

“QR codes have in the past been tried in galleries to link viewers to additional information, but it is a cumbersome, rather un-visual process,” he adds. “Feature tracking is primarily visual, and therefore all the more appropriate for engaging an art gallery audience.”

For examples, you can visit Goto’s website which shows you the various works of art with their accompanying porcelain sculptures. Pull up the images of Wright’s paintings and scan them with Layar to view the montages created by Goto and Leach.

The Occupy Wall Street protests quickly spread from New York City to the rest of the United States to the rest of the world, and it’s only fitting they should now occupy Augmented Reality, where neither blockades nor pepper spray and baton-wielding police officers can keep you off of Wall Street. 

Layar developer and Manifest.AR founding member Mark Skwarek has made a global call to activists to make themselves seen and heard in AR, which according to the AR Occupy Wall Street blog, is much more difficult to do in “actual” reality.

“Protesters were not given permits to protest at Wall Street forcing them blocks from the New York Stock Exchange [NYSE]. Wall Street was barricaded off. Only part of the sidewalk was accessible to the public and there was a constant heavy police presence. 

arOCCUPYWALLSTREET takes the protest to the heart of the financial district, placing them directly in front of the NYSE. Augmented reality gives protesters the ability to have a truly global affect on world events.”

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This week marks a first for Layar territory, as developer John Cleater, in collaboration with the Builder’s Association, integrated Layar into their latest project: a multimedia live theater production titled HOUSE / DIVIDED.

The production uses John Steinbeck’s classic novel The Grapes of Wrath as a narrative backbone, telling contemporary tales of foreclosure by following economic refugees and migrants from two different American eras. 

HOUSE / DIVIDED explores the changing meaning of home, homelessness, and place both in the present moment and in the broader context of the American mythos.

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We love hearing when people use Layar to host the first ever Augmented Reality art exhibition in their city or country, and we’re pleased to add Dublin to that list thanks to the event RiseCreatives hosted last weekend!

RiseCreatives is an Ireland-based portfolio site for designers, artists and crafts people founded by sisters Hanorah and Nina Lyons. 

The group created the RiseCreatives layer to house a two-part AR exhibition displaying artwork from eight of its talented members during Dublin’s Culture Night on September 23.

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