Augmented Reality: Vulva over Berlin

2023-10-24 14:34:48

Kunst Augmented Reality

Vulva over Berlin

Status: 24.10.2023 | Reading time: 5 minutes

Visit free of charge in Berlin: the sculpture “Diddle my Skittle” by the Korean-German artist Anne Duk Hee Jordan

What: © Anne Duk Hee Jordan

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The Tiergarten in Berlin borders directly on the political center of Berlin. Now artists there are testing the activist possibilities of augmented reality – including making a vulva fly.

You can’t believe your eyes when you look up at the sky on the large meadow between the Reichstag and the Chancellery, where the Victory Column once stood. What floats softly and wafting through the air like a pink helium balloon turns out, on closer inspection, to be a huge vulva that approaches the towering victory column and devours it. However, this animated sculpture is only visible on a smartphone or tablet via augmented reality (AR).

It comes from the Korean-German artist Anne Duk Hee Jordan, who tackles a phallic symbol of toxic masculinity with humor and femininity. It’s one of twelve AR works of artwhich were created for the exhibition project in Berlin’s Großer Tiergarten – and can be viewed free of charge at any time.

Unlike the parallel worlds of virtual reality, the AR works of art appear implemented into the real environment. All you need is a mobile device with AR support and mobile data, and you can activate the works listed on the tiergarten.org map while walking. This makes them visible and can be photographed and filmed, creating amazing overlay effects between the real and virtual world.

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Strong blow to Russia

At Republic Square you seem to be standing in the middle of a circular bomb crater, which the German artist Fabian Knecht took during one of his numerous Ukraine relief operations north of Kiev and reconstructed it in three dimensions from hundreds of photos. He was supported by the NGO “Pixelated Realities” from Odessa, which is dedicated to the digital preservation of cultural heritage.

The Ukrainian collective creates 3D models using photogrammetry, which can be transferred to any location via AR. When a monument from Odessa, covered with sandbags for protection, suddenly stands in front of the Berlin Reichstag or a burned-out military vehicle from Kharkiv near the Soviet Memorial, they become memorials of Ukrainian resistance against the threats and destruction of the Russian war of aggression.

Wind trousers made of autumn leaves

For most AR sculptures, the political environment of the Großer Tiergarten on the edge of the government district is the starting point for telling new stories and making current references. But the pure natural experience can also be expanded virtually without defacing the green area with questionable sculptures. One of the most beautiful interventions is the site-specific AR animation “Seasonal Work” by the Arpha collective, which blends into the surrounding park landscape in an inconspicuous yet poetic way at this time of year.

In an endless loop, the autumn leaves lying on the ground are whirled up by a light breeze to form a veritable gust of wind until they gently float back to the ground. In the dancing whirlwind of leaves you may see a charming natural spectacle or the eternal ups and downs in the whirlwind of emotions. How the autumnal magic of the fleeting and ephemeral will unfold on a snow-covered winter path or in front of lush spring green remains for the time being left to pure imagination.

The software for presenting contemporary art via AR was developed from 2018 as part of a research project at the University of Technology in Berlin-Wedding. In 2020/21, the further development as web AR was achieved in collaboration with the cultural projects organization Urbane Künstler Ruhr. At the end of 2021, the AR-Open exhibition project followed in Al-Zawraa Park in Baghdad, which was funded by GIZ Bonn in cooperation with the cultural manager Hella Mewis and the artist collective Tarkib and opened in Baghdad. The exhibition project in the zoo initiated by the Bulgarian artist curator Vlado Velko now draws on all of these experiences.

AR protest in Moscow

It sees itself as an experimental stage to test the diverse possibilities of AR as a new art genre. Beyond technical gadgets and gaming aesthetics à la Pokémon Go, the initiators are primarily concerned with the potential for political and social interventions. AR technology appears to be particularly suitable for subversive art activities because it leaves no physical traces and can be shared en masse on social networks.

“Demolith” by Fabian Knecht is a convincing example of this: a few days after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the artist-activist placed a two-color monolith in blue and yellow via AR in the middle of Red Square in Moscow, in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin and the United Nations Building in NYC to counter military violence with the power of images. The image of the voracious vulva that Anne Duk Hee Jordan also used before the Supreme Court in Washington when the change to the abortion law was being negotiated in 2022 appears just as powerful.

The pioneering achievements of these “augmented studies” are not diminished by the fact that there are also other attempts in this area. In 2018, the art historian and curator Daniel Birnbaum left the Moderna Museet in Stockholm to work as art director for the London company “Acute Art” to realize VR and AR projects with prominent artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Cao Fei, Bjarne Melgaard and Tomás Saraceno . In cooperation with the interdisciplinary New York art complex “The Shed”, the first open-air exhibition “The Looking Glass” took place on the High Line New York in 2021; In the same year also the first AR Biennale in the NRW Forum Düsseldorf.

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So far, not many projects have been really convincing, but activating the audience and blending real and virtual space open up completely new possibilities. Added to this are the economic and ecological advantages, as AR works of art require neither transport nor storage costs, neither permits nor opening hours, nor supervision nor insurance costs – there is not even a risk of vandalism.

Nevertheless, as with all new technologies, reservations are widespread. We have long been moving in a hybrid world in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between analog and digital, real and virtual reality. Perhaps augmented reality in art can help increase the selectivity.