study of AR expression

through performance

Adi Dahiya

Statement

Augmented Reality can be used to create physical, visual experiences quickly, with common equipment. These “sketches” can be collected and juxtaposed.

Medium specifics

Physicality: once you “set” type in the world, you can move around and view it from many different perspectives

Isolation: individuals create their own scenes and do not interact with others’ scenes.

Ephemerality: WT scenes cannot be saved or shared in their original medium, but only through transformation into video.

Accessibility: easier to use than VR.

Examples: #weirdtype

Prerequisites for performance

iOS device, Weird Type application, a willingness to experiment.

But first, let the piece run its course, mechanically.

Feel free to venmo charge @adidahiya $2.

Weird Type basics

Interactive performance 1

Pick a word you had to look up the definition of recently. Use WT set to break mode and set your word as the active text. Start to move your phone around a 3×3' cubed area in space, covering most of the invisible volume. Keep your phone pointed in the same direction and tap the screen quickly as you do this. Stop when most of the camera POV is obscured by letters of your word.

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Travel through your field of letter fragments.

Interactive performance 2

Two people face each other and have a conversation. They each have their phone in front of them so that they look at each other through the camera POV on the screen in front of them. Use WT in photo mode with "." as the active text. Take turns speaking, each time you are done speaking stop looking at your screen and look at the other person directly. The person who is next to speak should tap the screen to capture a snapshot of the face they will speak to while it is their turn.

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The piece ends when the conversation is finished.

Logistics for the work

Distribution: mobile application, website

Association with the author

Association with the developer of WT

challenging your expectations of the medium

challenging the boundaries of the medium

Inspiration, context

Yoko Ono’s instructions for art and life

Sol Lewitt’s wall drawings

Experiments with Google: Tunnel Vision, Inkspace

“Not building a wall but making a brick”

#weirdtype on Instagram

More conceptual artists: Cedric Price, Nairy Baghramain, Robert Barry, Claire Fontaine, Lawrence Weiner, Federico Herrero, Louise Bourgeois, Paul Chan, Douglas Coupland, John Cage.