AR Graffiti is an interactive installation made by art collective WERC from Groningen. It combines graffiti art with animation and augmented reality (AR).
With AR Graffiti, various painted graffiti elements are supplemented with a video projection designed by WERC. These elements are brought to life by projecting different digital layers over the graffiti with the video projection. The paint with which the graffiti elements are painted is a special electrically conductive paint. By touching one of these details with your hand, you trigger the designed video projection and the image of AR Graffiti changes. This gives you the opportunity as a visitor to implement your own choices and combinations in the final image. With AR Graffiti, the members of WERC have visualized the infinite number of choices that a (graffiti)artist has to make and they transform a graffiti piece that is normally a static image into an interactive and dynamic image.
For this artwork I made a series of audio loops that are triggered when different layers of the artwork are touched by hand. If multiple layers are touched at the same time the audio loops together form a piece of music. Loops can be triggered in unlimited possibilities.
How does it work?
By touching the hands that appear on the wall, you can alter this artwork. The outline of the graffiti piece forms the basis of this installation. The outline consists of four letters: WERC. Each letter has four elements: background, 3D, fill-in and add-on. These elements are painted on the wall in different shades of gray. The graffiti elements of AR Graffiti are painted with electrically conductive paint. By touching one of the details with your hand, you trigger the video projection, which causes the image of AR Graffiti to change. This gives you the opportunity to implement your own choices and combinations in the image. If you touch one of the graffiti elements, the corresponding video projection will be projected over the entire wall to complete the graffiti piece. There are a total of sixteen videos, with which hundreds of combinations can be made.
The video projections consist of animations designed by WERC. Each animation appears, moves and disappears in its own unique way. A wide variety of different animation techniques have been used for this work, from 3D animation to keyframe to hand-drawn frame by frame animations. The color combinations of the different animations are generated by a computer and are constantly changing.
AR Graffiti is supported by music composed by Freddy4:3. The music is linked to the graffiti elements that can be seen in the work. The fill-ins have their own drum loops, each background has its own bassline and the add-ons and the 3D consist of different melodies. You can change both the image and the soundscape of AR Graffiti.
Exhibitions
Permanent @ Straat museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2022 @ Cinekid Festival - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2022 @ Triangulation - Erasmushuis, Jakarta, Indonesia
2021 @ Kinderbiënnale - Groninger museum, Groningen, The Netherlands