Questions on augmented reality

Image created by Mac Funamizu, reproduced with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.

There are certain terms in the cultural sphere that are beginning to be repeated like mantras. From CCCB Lab we have seen, for example, how the concept of innovation is applied indiscriminately in different areas.

With the concept of augmented reality something similar happens. What are we talking about when we talk about augmented reality? A schematic summary tells us that augmented reality is a veil of real-time mixed reality, understood as information generated by 2.0 devices superimposed on a physical environment.

Meaning: to what we know as the outside world and the information it generates, virtual elements are added with a device-camera, phone, etc…- , to maximize our perception of reality.

This has generated numerous debates about the meaning of reality, the limits on it, just as it happened with the emergence of the concept of virtual reality. But what about applications?

• The emergence of augmented reality creates obvious technological applications already available on mobile devices, third-generation phones and all sorts of gadgets. Hence, commercial and industrial interest.
• So far, the intervention of RA has focused almost exclusively on its artistic applications. Software developers and multimedia artists have acted as precursors leading the way with projects ranging from the merely aesthetic to the questioning of the socio-economic status quo.
• A recently opened field of debate is the media and journalistic voice, probably as an outcome of the first point: the English and American press recently began to explore the consequences of applying augmented reality to the job. What if the availability of instant information could help a journalist to rebut a politician who distorts data in a parliamentary debate simply by pointing a device?

At CCCB Lab we will deal with the development of augmented reality, focusing on its possible applications in the field of exhibitions, and artistic practices in general, not to mention the substantive discussions on the “amplification of reality” which, from genetics to astrophysics-is changing our conception of what surrounds us.