ZARK

The first Croatian augmented reality/mixed reality art exhibition was organized by ZARK, with original paintings by artist Johnathan A. Roberts, photos by Miran Krčadinac, and short films by Nikolina Barić displayed throughout culturally and socially significant areas of Zagreb, Croatia via AR, as well as a real world exhibition featuring the same works at Kino Tuškanac, Zagreb.

Sponsored by Iskon Internet, Hrvatski Telekom, Hrvatski Filmski Savez and La-log Logistics, the exhibition opened at 12:00 on May 21, 2011, in the main screening area at Kino Tuškanac with a live violin recital by classically trained Japanese musician Rika Takaba, after which a short award winning film by Nika Barić was screened, followed by a modern dance performance by “Ting Tribe”. The main upper exhibition hall where the paintings and photos are displayed was enlivened by the musical stylings of DJ Dirty Hairy.

Artists’ statement for the exhibition:

Once more, the borders of reality are being redefined. Once more, humanity has shown that what previously seemed possible only as a feat of the imagination is quietly taking shape as the new landscape of reality: Colorful and surreal pointillist paintings dwarf high rise buildings, people whose time has come and gone return to their daily routines, haunting homes that were long thought to have vanished without a trace, while the stories of their descendants play out over every possible narrative pathway, (as well as every street of the city), instead of following a single linear thread, and anyone may quickly learn all there is to know about a person, place or object with a cursory glance. For the time being, our windows onto these alternative realities overlaid on Zagreb are handheld mobile computing devices. In a short time, the technology that allows us to experience them will be wearable. Before too long, they will be implantable in our bodies.

Now that the personal computer has evolved into something more mobile, (something with eyes and legs, so to speak), Augmented Reality promises to transform all points on the map into unlimited spaces that can be exploited for self-expression by anyone. Has an era ended? That of the handful of well connected and moneyed aesthetes who position themselves as the final arbiters and filters of public culture, placing their ideals, interests and prejudices in the foreground of social discourse while relegating all other potential contributions to the shadows? Yes, it has: Augmented Reality has made it possible for all who were swept away into the shadows and forgotten to take over the best and most beautiful spaces the city has to offer, laying down barrage after barrage of the unfiltered products of their imaginations upon the land with, quite literally, the precision of a targeted missile strike. No more must artists await the approval of a committee to display their works in galleries or museums. Not only will publicly shared spaces such as town squares and parks come to resemble vast art galleries, but also places to which the public has traditionally had little access. The Presidential Palace, the Parliament and even the Ministry of Defense are now open to colonization by every person with artistic aspirations: GPS coordinates are free – nobody owns those numbers.

The emergence of mobile technologies like Augmented Reality in conjunction with the overturning of the established cultural model could not have arrived at a more convenient time. The rising tide of information brought about by Moore’s Law compels us to seek out new ways of webbing together the knowledge of all disciplines into meaningful, easily understandable frameworks. Nurturing the proliferation of fully immersive, deeply experiential art forms which are egalitarian and inclusive by their nature will enable us to discover the best pathways through the new frontiers of the knowledge economy arising from the confluence of what used to be considered separate fields of study. In an augmented cityscape where traditional cultural boundaries are blurred or even erased altogether, where the past, present and future are endlessly reshuffled, giving rise not only to juxtapositional shocks and insights, but also to new sources of inspiration and cooperation, the intellectual capital of our country can only increase. Thus, our goal is to turn Zagreb into nothing less than a great laboratory for exploring the potential of Augmented Reality.