The Aesthetics of Liminality: Augmentation as an Art Form - Augmented Reality Art - page 108

Fig. 5.13 Exit glacier
terminus AR (Image Courtesy
Nathan Shafer 2013)

Fig. 5.14 Archeoguide (Image Courtesy Vlahakis et al. 2002 )

problematizes the project with most AR frameworks,. But conversely, the project's
ironic Alaskan self-sufficiency presents a certain kind of utility that is particularly
useful at the edge of the wireless world.
Archeoguide (Intracom 2010 ) is another AR application that reveals historical
representations of a geographic site. Although the website proposes to document a
number of historical sites, the first proof of concept is the site of the Temple of Hera,
in Olympia, Greece. As an earthquake destroyed it in the fourth century AD, there is
little that remains of the site, except for a few Doric columns. The video documen-
tation on the website shows the Temple as it might have been before its destruction.
However, in comparison to the Exit Glacier project Archeoguide 's documentation
depicts an opposite end of the “bell curve” in representing proprietary portable
computers, head-mounted displays, and a large wireless server infrastructure. All
of these seem more intrusive (and less institutionally viable) to the viewing/gestural
experience than the Shafer work, and far more technically “top-heavy” than the
glacier tool.