Augmented Real
Augmented Real is an interactive website art piece linked with the smartphone App "Yung Jake: AugReal" by Artist Yung Jake.
Formal Analysis
The Augmented Real website is backed by a green leaf-life organic texture with a Rock in the middle and floating text bubble instructions that follow your mouse cursor when moved. To activate the art piece, one must open the AugReal App on their smartphone or tablet device and point it towards the rock and press the play button. Depending on how the viewer moves their device, the app will adjust and curve the 3D model of a male figure and various effects ontop giving it a holograpic effect. The main figure shown is in a tiled image shirt and pants seemingly singing the rap song in the back created by Yung Jake. While the creation progresses, various digital effects zoom in and out and appear around the male figure such as computer monitors and floating american bills, as well as a female figure that passes through the male. The song playing refers to an "Augmented Reality" that the singer feels we are experiencing in this digital age.[1]
Emotional Outcomes
At first, the app can seem crude and unskilled, as it is far from the current level of 3D modeling and animations one come to expect from a skilled professional artist. However, when looking past this the crude use of tiled pictures and auto-tuned rap music combined with the topics of sexuality and the interconnectivity of modern internet usage bring new light to the boundaries between the real and the digital. The lyrics from the second verse, "I keep it one hundred. Authentic feel. I'm so real, augmented real."[1] express how the augmented and the digital have become the "real" for modern society, and much of what we do online is our reality, impossible to separate.
Exhibition Techniques of the Piece
First exhibited at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in the New Frontier section, the piece was exhibited as a live audience preformance alongside Yung Jake preforming himself.[2]. Yung Jake combines the virtual and physical worlds in his preformances, as he is never actually seen during the preformance but is still controlling the audio and visuals from behind the screen, digitally interacting with them through a live webcam before projecting the rock trigger image for the Augmented Real app. After which, members of the crowd pulled out their smartphone and tablet devices and held them up to activate the app, simultaniously having everyone in the room linked to the same video from the confines of their own devices. One commenter said it felt like "an army of digitized 3D Jakes coming at you from varied luminescent screens."[2]
Rejection/Acceptance of the work
Critical reception of the work seems very well recieved as it was selected for the Sundance Film Festival, and currently has over 200 likes on Facebook [3], and a 5 star rating on the iTunes App Store[4]. One user comments: "Provides a great view of how the Internet/devices interact and what things can be done just with minor manipulations of the tech"[4].
External Links
Sundance Film Festival Website
References
Wiki Authors
- Sara Sampson