#augmentedspaces

[storylabinc-blog]

Fantastic morning session at the Storylab studio with the @unmsaap emergent tech students - some nice projection work to show. #projectionmapping #augmentedspaces #interactivetech

[augmentinggallerieswithgila-blog]

Reading Response #4

March 6, 2019

Readings:

What Art Is and Where It Belongs, Paul Chan, e-flux, 2009.

The Poetics of Augmented Space, Lev Manovich, Journal of Visual Communication, 2006.

Response:

I recently watched a short clip of Ralph Lauren talking about his luxury car collection (Ferraris, Bugattis, Jaguars, Porsches, and more from the past century). In this clip he makes the analogy that the cars are art just as the clothes he designs are fashion. This seems to be a great example of what Paul Chan is referring to when he describes how “art becomes a thing.” A Ferrari is of course a practical machine; the only thing that makes a Ferrari a car is its ability to transport you from one place to another. However, when a car-lover such as Ralph Lauren looks at a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, he sees more than just a way to get to work; he is moved by the appearance of the car and inspired by the sound of the motor and the vibrations of the chassis as he drives it. The Ferrari “[pulls] into its comportment anything that exists in our social and material reality” while simultaneously introducing an “untenable” value. It seems to me that Ralph Lauren’s car collection is an example of how the thingifying adds to rather than replaces the “incomplete” nature of art.

My favorite question which Lev Manovich asks is “Can cultural institutions play an active, even a leading, role, acting as laboratories where alternative futures are tested?” I wholeheartedly agree with him that this is an area in which cultural institutions can play a leading role and I would argue that we can already see many examples in which cultural institutions are the forerunners and risk takers in the field of augmented space. Take for example the “aggressive” and goal-driven field of advertising. In advertising, direct competition forces businesses to consider risks and financial repercussions when foraying incorporating augmented space into their advertising strategies. Cultural institutions such as galleries or museums on the other hand are encouraged and even expected to take risks when exploring a new medium such augmented space. Maybe this explains why even with our advanced technology “the Renaissance painting became an animated medieval illustrated book” ( think scrolling stock quotes). Considering that an enormous portion of the world population, particularly the portion targeted by technology-oriented business, now owns cellphones, it is surprising that augmented reality delivered via our mobile devices has not proliferated the world of business more. In this particular case, the cultural institutions have an opportunity to pioneer the use of augmented spaces and serve as role models for the eventual proliferation of mobile, immersive, dynamic augmented reality into our daily lives.