Invisible ARaffects – Manifest.AR projects for the
FACT 10th anniversary exhibition “Turning FACT Inside Out”

After an international competition in 2011, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) awarded Manifest.AR a commission to create significant new artworks in augmented reality. “Invisible ARtaffects,” part of FACT’s 10th anniversary exhibit “Turning FACT Inside Out,” is an exhibition of works in progress by the Manifest.AR artist group developed for this commission.

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Abstract
A large section of the cultural heritage sector not usually thought of as Cultural Heritage is the contemporary and temporary art galleries and spaces. Many such institutions do not have traditional collection mechanisms nor permanent artefacts and exhibitions, but rather a rolling programme constantly in flux. This represents a new challenge in terms of a systemised approach to learning and public engagement strategies, but also offers an opportunity to propose new learning and engagement mechanisms through the prism of its one unique selling point– the artistic creative engagement of artists and art practitioners. This paper examines the potential of Augmented Reality for the museum and gallery visiting experience focusing particularly on the ways through which AR as an emerging technology may inform emerging art practices all by encouraging public participation and engagement with art.

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Where: Building Imagination Center, Modesto CA

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AR2View is an exhibition catalog that brings together a collection of Augmented Reality (AR) artworks from nineteen media artists and two essay articles that review the field and the work inside produced for and distributed at the CAA’s 2013 Annual Conference in New York. Unlike most catalogs, the pages link to media artwork wherever you and the catalog happen to be. Download AR2View.

Composite image of Giant Robots are attacking the Capital, Mark Skwarek, 2013.

If you listen to certain voices you will be told that art is irrelevant; that it is not required to succeed in life; that there are better, more profitable things to do. If you are involved in any sociopolitical issue—which means you have a pulse—you know the lie of this alleged wisdom. Making a point requires conjuring images, visual and verbal. Any politician must be an artist; logic alone is not enough. Everyone who stands for something is a politician in this sense. An artist begins where listening to certain voices ends.

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A documentary of one of the many works Manifest.AR presented at the  Zero1 Biennial in San Jose. Parking Lot Decorator an on-site “decorator” tool to transform some of the vast parking lots of software companies in Silicon Valley. Though the project appears as purely an aesthetic gesture, it’s intent is to transform and open up these non-sites at the edges of these vast corporate structures. (Projects at the Zero1 Biennial supported by the Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University.)

“Transformation: Lehel” (seen near St. Lukas Church), by Tamiko Thiel, Munich, 2012

The ongoing project “Transformation” by Tamiko Thiel researches daily life in the city and asks how we can transform our cities for a more sustainable future. ”Transformation: Lehel” places ideas for the future, ranging from the possible to the improbable, as augmented reality artworks on site throughout the Lehel neighborhood in Munich, Germany. Images of the artworks formed part of Thiel’s large multiscreen video installation in the St. Lukas Church in Munich in October, 2012. “Transformation” is part of the project series “Overtures ZeitRäume” from pilotraum01 e.V., curated by Serafine Lindemann and Christian Schoen.

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September 12 – December 8, 2012

ManifestAR has established a citywide augmented reality public art exhibition for the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial with parallel components at the Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell University in Lewisburg Pennsylvania. Titled “ManifestAR @ ZERO1,” the group draws on collective, participatory art practices centered on mobile augmented reality technology that aggregates and maps a series of artworks, which re-imagine and reinterpret the high-tech corporate campuses and products of Silicon Valley. Performative and site-specific works are located around the cities of San Jose, San Francisco and Lewisburg.

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August 24-October 21, 2012

show card by mark skwarek

Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, is located in the former Nikolaj Church at Nikolaj Plads in the centre of Copenhagen and functions as the city’s exhibition space for contemporary art.

The Copenhagen Art Festival will open 24. August 2012 with an event-packed programme until 2. September. Hereafter the newly opened exhibitions will continue throughout the autumn. The festival is one of the major presentations of international contemporary art in the region.

The Copenhagen Art Festival presents a multifaceted exhibition programme with art works by Danish and international artists. The festival will take place in the streets and squares of the inner city of Copenhagen and at the major contemporary art centres: Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art and Kunstforeningen GL STRAND.

Manifest.AR is an international artists collective that create virtual actions in politically loaded locations, using digital technology (smartphones with a Layar app) to insert controversial monuments and messages. The group has also made unofficial, virtual interventions at MoMA, N.Y., and the biennials of Istanbul and Venice 2011.

Ever fancied being part of a start-up? Now is your chance! Virtually that is. Whether you are in San Jose, Lewisburg or even in another continent, you are invited to join a temporary “15 minute company”. Open your augmented reality browser and you’ll find yourself surrounded by a fully equiped virtual office space you’re sharing with people across the globe. And hopefully, you’ll be sharing some remarkable creative ideas too, chatting with fellow employees with a variety of background. Act fast, because the company will vanish just as quickly as it did start-up.

“15 Minute Company” – visualisation of shared virtual office space

“15 Minute Company” geographically distributed temporary cooperative structure

BIO Sander Veenhof

Dutch new media artist Sander Veenhof studied computer science at the VU university in Amsterdam and graduated at the Instable Media department of the Rietveld Art Academy. He works at the cross section of these domains, using his technical knowledge and intuition to explore the impact of emerging technologies on our radically changing reality and society of today. In search of new formats unique to our semi-digital world, his projects range from technically driven concept art to geo-based participative storytelling experiences. His recent works foremostly exist in the augmented public (“AR”) space worldwide, accessible through a smartphone. To Veenhof, AR provides a perfect environment to work on projects in which virtual elements and physical components truly integrate and mutually empower each other, leading to a result that could not be possible otherwise. Veenhof is one of the founding members of Manifest.AR, a collective of artists creating their works in AR. Best known for their uninvited exhibition in the MoMA NY, the group showcases the new opporunities for artists and audience in a world in which physical borders and limitations are no longer relevant.