[-empyre-] Augmented reality as public art, mobile location based monuments and virtual memorials

[xDxD.vs.xDxD]

hi Alan!

On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 3:25 PM, Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com> wrote:

>
> So the 'We' in electracy you talk about is inextricably mixed with capital,
> with enclaving, and with the specifics of location; only the last is
> accessible to everyone. In this sense, what you call 'this virtual public
> sphere' is a 'real private sphere' whose manifestation or represen- tation
> is is virtual.
>
>
this is a great reflection, and i think that this is the main limit in
researching on the possibilities of AR using software like Layar, Junaio et
similia.

it seems odd to use these, as it turns out forgetting all the other (more
interesting?) interpretations of the term "Augmented Reality":

escaping from the point of view of technology and technique, if you turn the
term into a possibilistic view on the world (the possibility to augment it,
autonomous and free, layering points of view) wonderfully new scenarios open
up for expression and freedoms

this is exactly the take we are holding with our AR-related projects: we see
these as pioneering activities whose objective is, literally, to "reinvent
reality" by "stratifying new, accessible, multi author, emergent and, most
of all, autonomous and free layers of reality on top of the 'ordinary
ones'".

and to bypass the issues which you point out, each time this activity
requires the creation of a software (or other system, or practice, since we
don't necessarily connect the idea of "augmented reality" to a technological
one, as we did with our students at the Share Festival in Turin in 2009,
where we used stickers) and then releasing it as free software, as part of
the "world augmentation", as part of the artwork/performance (and the
parallel obviously holds true when we deal with practices instead of
software)

this (the use of closed platforms like Layar, Junaio and others) is just
about my only doubt related to almost all the AR initiatives i am seeing.

As, obviously, the interesting thing about AR is the effective
augmentation-trough-autonomous-stratification of reality, not "seeing
dinosaurs in central park".

As the next steps of the REFF project (and its AR drug, and its "youth
program on the methodological reinvention of reality") we are planning two
very powerful actions for the next few months and if, anyone is interested,
i can keep you all updated about them: they will go straight into this
direction and include in all this a deep and disruptive reflection on
capital, and money.

i would definitely like to hear the points of view of everyone in the list
about these issues

ciao!
xDxD
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