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monument for World Trade Center called 110 Stories. August made an AR app that
recreated the World Trade Center at the real world site of ground zero in scale. The
app allowed viewers to see the trade center from across the city of New York replac-
ing its iconic silhouette in the Manhattan skyline. Then August created an interface
which allowed viewers to retell their memories of the Trade Center and leave them
at the location where they had the memory. The work linked memories in time to
physical locations throughout New York City with AR. The memories were stored
in a collective database that the community could review from the app and Internet.
1.14
Extreme Augmented Reality Activism
Extreme AR activism is work that pushes the edge, where real danger is involved.
The activist's message usually deals with controversial subject matter. These works
are often executed in politically dangerous locations. Being caught making or
viewing the work could result in fines, blacklisting, deportation, jail or worse. Some
activists are willing to take these chances because this type of work usually has the
best chance of creating actual change.
Work by the group “The 4 Gentleman” push these boundaries by creating works
that could get the viewer jail time simply by being caught viewing the mobile app
(Fig.
1.15
). One work by the group, “Tiananmen Squared” recreates the Goddess
of Democracy statue from the Tiananmen Square uprising in Tiananmen Square
in Beijing, China. Anyone who is brave enough can travel to Tiananmen Square
and view the work. Chinese college art students originally erected the Goddess of
Democracy statue with chicken wire and plaster of Paris during the uprising. By
simply searching for the term “Tiananmen Square” while in China, the searcher is
red flagged and put under observation by Chinese cyber-police. Currently AR is very
low on most government's radars. The data being transmitted it is often overlooked
by big brother. This will surely change along with escalating dangers associated
with this type of work in the upcoming years.
The Apple Store Intervention with Foxconn Worker (shown at Eyebeam's
Activist Tech Demo Day) can be classified as AR spectacle activism (Fig.
1.16
).
The Foxconn employee's lifeless body is seen contrasted against the polished
glass atrium of the 14th street Apple Store with augmented reality. Foxccon
Apple's largest manufacturer had a string of suicides - employees jumping from
the roofs of the factory buildings. Eventually Foxconn, to protect its employees
was forced to installed safety nets surrounding these buildings to dissuade would
be jumpers. The work appropriated a shocking leaked image of one of the real
world Foxconn employees who had just committed suicide. The work creates
a telepresence by mixing the realities Apple Store with the tragedy that took
place at the Foxconn Plant. The lifeless Foxconn worker is surrounded by first
responders and onlookers from the Foxccon plant. This is contrasted by the Apple
store consumers who walk by the tragedy, unknowing and without care as they
prepare to make their next Apple purchase. In a future iteration of the project the
