A Window To Reality Six Empty shops, Six Creatives, Six New Galleries

A ground-breaking augmented reality exhibition within the streets of the city. A Window to Reality was a public art project that is turned town centre shop windows into a walk-by augmented reality (AR) gallery. The project demonstrated how new technologies, collaboration and fresh thinking can unlock public spaces as hybrid commercial and creative locations for the betterment of all. Engaging directly with the decline of town centre shopping the project repurposes the windows of disused shops. The windows are turned into portals for viewing art. Through this project the streets of the city become an alternative, curated venue for broader, unexpected exposure to the arts.

Shop windows were covered with an artwork, a portrait and information about the artist. When viewers pointed their mobile device at the artwork, an AR layer allowed them to see the creation of the work with an audio commentary by the artist. Viewers were offered a glimpse of creativity often reserved for a gallery space. The combination of convenience and the exposure to the creative practice of artists sought to flatten the learning curve often associated with engagement and the understanding of the arts.

Six creatives across the arts spectrum were selected for the project. The selection was based on the quality of their work as well as taking into consideration the potential help that extra exposure could add to their developing careers and creative practice. Each of the six creatives were given the opportunity to label themselves, to create a persona for their performance, a way that they felt they should be identified to the public. For the performance each artist wore a distinct white working wardrobe or a white version of their clothes. This was to highlight the alternative reality version of their overlaid selves and to allow focus on their work as they moved in front of it during the creation process. We were pleasantly surprised by how little persuasion it took to get six artists to dress up.

The artists: Agata Tomaszek: The Typographer, Tayler Fisher: The Mixed Media Artist, Liam Proudman: The Doodler, Kris Trigg: the Pop Artist, MONO: The Graffiti Writer, Jay Clark: The Sculptor. The city window installations were only be available for a limited time (Winter 2019- Spring 2020).

Collaboration Partners: Swipe & Tap worked closely with us to develop the augmented reality app. They brought a technical and creative intelligence to the development of a next-generation AR app which is now freely available for iOS and Android. James and Johnny from James Poole helped us develop the AR video framework for the project. They were present at every performance to supply and set-up equipment, advise on the video production, lighting and editing. Hannah Bodsworth brought her expertise to producing a series of themed but distinct portrait shots that were crucial for establishing the personas of the involved creatives. As the project has developed, Hanna’s studio became the perfect hub for developing the performances.