I will be hosting a panel discussion as part of Pratt Institute’s PHATT-B, a one-day festival of electronic art. My panel starts at 11:30am and is called: Augmented Reality as Critical Practice. My panelists are Teri Rueb, Sarah Drury, Mark Skwarek, and John Craig Freeman. I am excited. Should be a good day that also features some fantastic people including a keynote by Eva and Franco Mattes (a document of their work above). If interested, please visit the event webpage. Here is the description of my panel. As the capacity of handheld devices has increased, and new augmented reality software has made production more accessible, there has been a corresponding surge of AR projects produced by artists concerned with place and situation. In what ways can these projects refocus attention in virtual and actual public spaces, and provide platforms for expanded public discourse? How do these artists produce within the boundaries of mobile AR, navigating common limitations (small screens, jumpy GPS, device dependency narrowing audience), to create meaningful experiences? This panel starts with the premise that artist-produced AR has the potential to significantly alter our relationship to cultural, political and social phenomena and to other bodies—humans, animals, plants, built structures, landforms and visible and invisible machines. Four artists producing critical place-based AR—Teri Rueb, Sarah Drury, John Craig Freeman and Mark Skwarek—will discuss their concepts, processes and choices with the audience and moderator Meredith Drum.
