This is an AR experience developed as part of the Tender Circuits exhibition with the Digital Arts Resource Centre.  Tender Circuits is an online exhibition from 7 Canadian artists experimenting with augmented reality as a part of their practice. Our task was to examine the nature of connections in complex natural systems, like mycelium networks. 

I built the portals and modelled the 3D assets/water shader, with the vision of creating a surreal but intimate representation of an individual’s inner life. Objects that seem unrelated co-exist in a charged, mysterious space.  In contrast to VR, AR is overlaid on the  real world. This presents opportunities to play with additional layers of reality that seem ordinary, creating a contrast that heightens the impact of the AR app.  I loved discovering the layers of story and meaning that you can create between these two spaces to provoke emotions and questions.  On the technical side,  finding the correct method of placement for an entire artistic work proved to be challenging.  Multiple rounds of trial-and-error were needed to ensure that the experience was scaled/positioned correctly for the best user experience. 

Here’s an excerpt from my artist’s statement: 

Augmented reality can be a way to discover worlds unseen. The medium offers a way to layer meaning onto the world as we know it. We can enter into a deeper experience of the everyday. Now That I’m Here places narrative symbols into a digital experience, revealing a stranger’s psychological space for the audience to see. Each panel exists separately but hangs together, suspended out of time. A story unfolds over years: the left panel signals an era of possibility and potential. By the right panel, only a tall and vicarious stone tower remains. The centre panel shows us one level further in. Full of primal and essential feelings and instincts, what’s found at the core is immutable. Afterward, we take this encounter with us into our larger community, where countless internal landscapes await discovery.

 Assets: Unity, Blender, Gnaural, Unsplash (backgrounds)