How do visual artists benefit from augmented reality?

Extended reality (XR) technologies offer an utterly novel medium for creators. Visual content creators can bring their artistic creations to life using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Here we break down what AR offers to visual artists.

Immerse your audience

When compared to screen-based 2D digital artworks, augmented reality has the benefit of being more immersive. Most often, digital paintings are static and are displayed on a browser or a file explorer. Although these solutions served well until very recently, they now have to compete with visually more prosperous and stimulating content types, such as video games and short video applications such as TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Instagram reels. AR, in this case, is a helping hand for artists to regain the attention they are losing against rapidly switching visual content.

Augmented reality allows you to create 3D-situated experiences, which can be placed anywhere, scaled, and rotated. Such experiences grant art enthusiasts a sculpture-like experience. Your audience can go behind the creation and explore it from different angles.

Augmented reality is budget-friendly

Building on top of the previous point, you may not be able to afford a 5m-tall bronze sculpture. By digitizing art, becoming an artist is getting more budget-friendly, hence, more accessible for people who may not have the financial means to get the necessary supplies.

Create interactive artworks

Newspaper, TV, radio... They all have in common that the two sides of the equation (the publisher and the consumer) are entirely separate. Consumers are separated from the creation process and can only passively read the newspaper, watch the TV, or listen to the radio. Forums and social media revolutionized the way masses interact with media. Now everyone can share their ideas on the internet, react to someone else`s, or comment on them. Fine arts are catching up with this trend, and artists can now create AR experiences that can constitute a storyline, quizzes, non-player characters (NPC), puzzles, quests, and scavenger hunts.

Digital extension to your existing physical artwork

Using augmented reality does not necessarily mean one has to be a digital artist. AR also offers unique benefits to analog artists. For example, you can leverage your existing canvas by adding AR-powered information panels pointing at different locations of your painting and explaining behind-the-scenes details, incomplete versions of the artwork, andholographic yourself, giving your audience a tour... Possibilities are almost endless, and only some of these ideas have been put into production.

You do not need an art gallery

Whether you are a digital or analog artist, AR can solely help you scale your art career by eliminating the need for a physical space. Renting a gallery is usually expensive, and it becomes even more challenging if you are new to the area with little recognition. Location-based AR allows you to expand your artwork to the streets. This expansion eliminates the spatial and temporal limitations of hosting your collection in a gallery within the restricted opening hours. Your creation becomes available day and night.

Create meaningful experiences with geo-based AR

Context is everything. How and where an art piece is experienced greatly influences its impact. Artists cannot host physical or screen-based art cannot be hosted anywhere without particular limitations. Location-based AR allows you to place your content wherever your want. For example, you can have a virtual exhibition at the main square of your city or a historic castle.

Problem with augmented reality

Not everyone is tech-savvy, and AR technology may initially seem scary. In addition, switching tools come with material and financial costs for creators. Artists require easy and accessible tooling to be onboarded to the extended reality trend. For instance, such tools should enable artists to easily import their creations or tap into the creative opportunities of these platforms. AR needs easy-to-use creator platforms.

How can ZAUBAR solve this?

ZAUBAR allows creators of all kinds to create new and recreate their already existing content in augmented reality. Artists can then place the AR content at real-world locations without owning the place or any other fancy metaverse parcel. Effectively, ZAUBAR is democratizing the AR art creation process and facilitating the onboarding of users to AR technologies. Archiv der Zukunft Lichtenfels is a great example. With the project Lichtenfels AR, they collaborated with several artists and placed AR embodied art on the streets of Lichtenfels.