Shannon Novak, the Auckland-based artist behind the Expanded Gallery exhibition spreading across Dunedin, yesterday showed off the latest addition to his technology-enhanced work.
The digital sculpture, named Gordon, was viewed through an augmented reality headset, which added a layer of digital imagery over the real world.
With the headset on, members of the public could view the sculpture floating in mid-air inside the gallery, and use voice commands or gestures to interact with it — changing its colour, size, configuration or more, he said.
"Saying its name, Gordon, will do things like make it flash, generate music and all sorts of strange things," he said.
The innovation was created with help from the University of Auckland’s Centre for eResearch, and built on the augmented reality experience popular in mobile games like Pokemon Go, he said.
It was hoped it would help attract a new audience of tech-savvy art-lovers, particularly younger people, he said.
"You often see them in galleries or at art openings, and all the adults are having a great time ... and the kids are just in a corner, on their cellphones, just totally immersed in whatever’s on that."
The project built on his Expanded Gallery exhibition, which was spread across locations in Dunedin and also made use of augmented reality.
Mr Novak hoped to inspire people to "think about different ways they can make work or make art", including reimagining public spaces.
"It’s not restricted to the white walls that are in this gallery. You can go and create stuff out there without too many repercussions.
"It’s not like you have got paint and you’re tagging something, or you’re physically putting stuff in a space that annoys people."
Gordon is open to the public today and tomorrow.
