Apple Offers New Augmented Reality Art Sessions
Yesterday, Apple opened registration for a series of new art-based Today at Apple augmented reality (AR) experiences, called [AR]T, offered at Apple Stores around the world. The three new sessions include an interactive walk featuring works by some of the world’s premier contemporary artists, an in-store session that teaches the basics of creating AR using Swift Playgrounds and an AR art installation viewable in every Apple Store worldwide.
To create the sessions Apple invited the New Museum, a leading destination for contemporary art in New York, to select seven artists — Nick Cave, Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg, Cao Fei, John Giorno, Carsten Höller and Pipilotti Rist — to participate in an experiential project that is free to the public.
“Today at Apple offers a window into the creative arts made possible by our products and customers,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail + People. “We hope attendees are inspired by the incredible AR creations in the [AR]T Walk and in-store installation, and we can’t wait to see what our visitors learn to create in the [AR]T Lab.”
[AR]T Walk: Augmented Realities Co-Curated with New Museum
These experiential walks take participants through San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo as they encounter works by world-renowned artists, most of whom are working in AR for the first time. Works by Cave, Djurberg and Berg, Cao, Giorno, Höller and Rist connect participants to public spaces such as London’s Trafalgar Square, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens or New York’s Grand Army Plaza in Central Park.
Using AR, the artists have reimagined or invented new ways to express core themes of their art practice. Rist’s “International Liquid Finger Prayer” bounces, taunts and sings as participants race to catch a shimmering form, while Giorno’s “Now at the Dawn of My Life” is a rainbow journey of homespun wisdom, and “Through” by Höller takes viewers through a portal into a world with no perspective.
Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis director for the New Museum commented, “The New Museum has always led at the intersection of art and tech and we could not have asked for a better partner in Apple to support the surreal and fantastic visions of these pioneering artists. Augmented reality is a medium ripe for dynamic and visual storytelling that can extend an artist’s practice beyond the studio or the gallery and into the urban fabric.”
[AR]T Lab: AR Experiences
Created in partnership with New York artist, NEW INC member (New Museum’s cultural incubator) and educator Sarah Rothberg, this free Today at Apple session at all Apple Stores gets attendees hands-on with whimsical objects and immersive sounds created by Rothberg. Using Swift Playgrounds, anyone can learn how to create their own AR experiences in this free 90-minute [AR]T Lab.
[AR]T in the Apple Store: Nick Cave’s “Amass”
Visitors can come into any Apple Store worldwide and experience artist Nick Cave’s AR piece “Amass.” Using the [AR]T Viewer in the Apple Store app, users can initiate Cave’s interactive installation, which takes the viewer on a journey to view and collect “Ikon Elements” and experience a universe of positive energy right in the middle of an Apple Store.
All three sessions are available beginning August 10
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
