Sydney and Los Angeles galleries hold exciting joint project
The Art Gallery of New South Wales and Getty Center in Los Angeles, in collaboration with artists, Tin&Ed, have introduced an engaging augmented reality (AR) artwork experience using iPads. This interactive project, called Deep Field, is simultaneously launching at the two galleries and aims to bring children from both hemispheres closer to nature through the medium of art.
Visitors to both museums are encouraged to co-create a digital ecosystem filled with imaginative and fantastical plants. Using a specially designed drawing app for iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, participants can sketch and design their unique plants and flowers, which are then uploaded to a global database. These drawings are transformed into 3D plant structures that appear in real-time across both museums, extending across the floor, walls, and ceiling.
Beyond being an immersive simulation, Deep Field also prompts viewers to contemplate the interconnectedness of living organisms. The app features a UV mode, enabling participants to explore real flowers and plants and observe the vibrant UV patches that are typically invisible to the human eye.
This perspective allows them to experience the world from the standpoint of butterflies, bees, and bioluminescent fireflies. Additionally, a layered multichannel soundscape by audio naturalist, Martyn Stewart, founder of The Listening Planet, provides participants with the opportunity to listen to sounds from endangered and extinct species while viewing their artwork within the app.
Recognising the urgency of climate sustainability and environmental justice, the project has incorporated the talents of the Teen Gallery Guide internship program at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Summer interns will facilitate learning experiences in the galleries, using the iPad Pro, providing young people with the chance to discuss the future health of our planet and ways to protect it.
At the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Deep Field workshops will involve participants visiting the Yiribana Gallery to closely examine artworks depicting plants from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection. Drawing inspiration from these works, each participant will create their unique virtual flora using the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
