Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
Augmented Reality Graffiti and Street Art
Ian Gwilt
11.1
Introduction
Graffiti has always augmented real-world locations and environments, providing
social commentary, unsolicited opinion, proof of occupation, or simply by dint of
adding colour and visual content to our utilitarian city infrastructures. Either through
the opportunistic act of an addition to an urban surface, or by invitation to create a
site specific response to an existing form or predefined public space, 'traditional'
graffiti and street art has always had a relationship with the architecture, street
furniture, surfaces and materials that define and delineate our urban experience.
Invited contribution or not, it could be argued that these interventions help turn
Marc Augé's notion of urban non-places into inhabited environments, wherein,
today's 'supermodern' spaces are drawn back into a lived and lived in, imperfect
experience (Augé
2008
). These broadcast images and symbols also transition the
public to the personal - an assertion of individuality for both the creator and the
viewer - prompting us to question what is our role, interest in, and connection to the
community and place in which we live.
This chapter looks at how the concept of Augmented Reality graffiti (AR graffiti)
enables us to experience an augmented view of the urban environment. By running
Augmented Reality (AR) software on mobile devices such as smart phones and
hand-held computers, virtual content including images, audio, messages and designs
can be placed into a digitally enhanced view of a city scene. This facility allows
us to switch not only between a personal and shared experience of an artwork
or urban space but also to experience both digital and analogue versions of the
same environment. In this chapter I will examine how the intersection between
