Art is an expression that can foster any number of emotions. From melancholy to bliss, the range of feelings that a creator can draw from us includes anything achievable from within our spectrums. There are still, however, potential limits within traditional art based on the physical realities of any given medium.
A painting sits within a frame. A sculpture is static. A dance is confined to the physicality of the dancers.
With the coming age of augmented and virtual reality art, all of these boundaries could be shattered.
For those not aware of this burgeoning technology, augmented reality refers to the ability for a digital device with a camera and screen to effectively superimpose an image or model within real space.
In other words, it’s like virtual reality, only placed firmly within a real environment rather than an entirely digital one.
While still in its infancy, the promise of this new artistic avenue could fundamentally reshape the way we participate in the world of art.
This might seem hyperbolic, but it’s important to recognize that this would hardly be the first case of digital technology usurping swaths of the traditional.
For example, video gaming, for many players, has replaced traditional costly and space prohibitive forms of gaming. This development even progressed further, with new sectors like that of online casino gaming successfully being incorporated into the industry.
These new forms give players an entirely new level of convenience and variety of selection, making the choice all the more understandable. If you wanted to play, you could claim your bonus now, gather your bonus cash, and explore the massive range of opportunities right at your fingertips.
AR art, as it turns out, operates similarly.
Limits Redefined
There are some forms of art which require little in the way of equipment. Most forms, unfortunately, are not so free and simple. Supplies need to be consistently addressed, and larger projects can necessitate rentals of open property space.
For most of us, from amateurs to veterans, this can make our dreams a non-starter.
AR art, while still requiring initial equipment, is far more permissive. The ability to freely manipulate and move about a project overcomes many space and supply-based issues and mitigates others.
Perhaps the most important factor is the ability of digital art projects to take physicality into the plain of the physically impossible.
Abstract and 3D standing paintings are now viable, sculptures can move around freely, and dancers can achieve impossible feats with impossible looks. This opens a world which our predecessors have only dreamed of, often literally, giving humanity a means to further extend our artistic capabilities.
Even at this early point, what the first generation of AR artists have created is enough to inspire a new level of creative thought. Even if the tools and technologies currently available are only a crude antecedent of what will soon be, the results have been far above what many early speculators thought attainable.
The same limitations can be similarly seen on the viewing side of the equation, with quality AR glasses and more convenient devices still early in their evolutionary life-span.
Make no mistake, however, new AR forms of artistic expression are poised to play an enormous part in our continuing journey. Like any art form, it might not be for everyone, but don’t let that dissuade you from keeping a close digital eye on what this corner of the industry could become.