Unseen: Augmented Reality Art Exhibition
Unseen is my first solo exhibition inspired by my curiosity in merging Augmented Reality (AR) and visual art along with prevalent social issues such as mental health and climate change. It was exhibited in Sydney from 18th to 23rd February 2020.
Service
Environmental & Exhibition
Augmented Reality
Illustration
Client
Personal Project
Year
2020
Highlighting the silent influences in our lives that make us who we are today, "Unseen" is an interactive art exhibition that uses Augmented Reality (AR) to create a virtual space where deeper realities are exposed, which is usually silent and invincible.
"Unseen" is a 6 piece series that reveals the invisible causes and effects of personal experiences and an opportunity to explore the intersection between technology and art. Each piece takes an ordinary illustrated scene reveals a hidden perspective with AR, giving the audience an intimate and first-hand experience as well as looking at everyday scenarios in a different light.
Branding and Visuals
For my main poster, I wanted it to communicate the essence of my AR exhibition by including the hand holding a phone (what the audience will be doing), QR codes (how the audience will activate the AR experience) and little illustrative elements from my artworks to tie everything together. I wanted to keep it fun, light and steer away from futuristic styles so that the audience won't be intimidated by the technology.
For the colour schemes, I made it consistent across all artworks and the exhibition poster.
User Experience
I didn't want the audience to download an app just to access the AR experience, so I have the AR hosted on Instagram - the same technology used for face filters. As most of my demographic is around 20-40 years old, most of them already have the Instagram app on their phones, making the experience more seamless.
The audience would need to have an updated version of Instagram on their phone. They can scan the QR code on the info card, point their camera to the artwork and see the AR unfold in front of them. Plus, they can post it on their Instagram Stories to further promote the exhibition! I designed plagues with instructions on how to access the AR experience.
Virtual Exhibition
After the physical exhibition, I decided to make a virtual exhibition so people all around the world could experience it too. Feel free to experience the guided tour, access the AR experience in Instagram through the QR code and click on the artworks for their descriptions.
Outcome & Learnings
There were a total of around 150 people came, 800 interactions in AR and 15k views on LinkedIn. I am honoured to be featured in various mediums like websites, magazines, video and radio interviews, visit my 'Features' page to read them.
Having a solo exhibition has always been in my bucket list, so I've been applying to a few galleries. Once the opportunity arises, I had to do something different! Setting up a solo show with a budget was a lot of work as I did all the illustrations, motion graphics, AR development myself and marketing myself. However, I learned so much about user experience in an art gallery, onboarding them to engage with the technology and communicating my art to the public.
I am currently writing a Medium article to help other aspiring artists to have their own exhibitions.