Augmented Reality

VR?AR?same difference Having just completed a placement at Kin Design and currently hanging about with the nice people at Moving Brands a few really interesting things have passed my way- here is an assortment of my favourite bits and pieces from the AR world.

This is Sticky Light, not sure if it is strictly Augmented Reality but it's super cool so fuck it.

This is an amazing ted talk which I can't quite believe I hadn't seen before- the set up means that data can be projected onto almost any flat surface (a wall, your hand) and interacted with using coloured fingertips and a camera- all for only $200.

Moving Brands

Moving Brands recently released their Moving Identity Paper. The front cover has their logo on it- a programme can recognise this and augment things on top- the real kicker though is that built into the programme is an interface- held straight on there are blog posts, rotate 90 degrees it's images, again and it's tweets, another 90 and it's videos. You can also scroll through previous and next content by moving the book left and right, if you tilt the book it scrolls down longer blogs- seriously incredible and a brilliant example of the principles which are in the book.MB Living Identity

You can use the book to interact with the application which is on their website over here. Or print the glyph off yourself or even, and I think this creates even more potential for this technology, you can draw it yourself. The image above shows the actual cover and my crude, blocky drawing that I used to interact with the programme.

Sam Winston

It's Nice That Talk #16 – Sam Winston from It's Nice That on Vimeo.

A really insightful and relevant talk from Sam Winston and I'm going to pull out this really good quote from the video which for me is one of the best descriptions of process- somehting which sadly seems lacking a little in the industry- particularly a practical process of experimentation:

why would you do that? - intuition - nurture - Firstly I don't know what I'm doing, but I know I'm working something out, both personally and in my practice. Secondly, I'm nurturing something because by the time I've finished it I've got a real sense of value, I've understood what I'm doing, and I know where I'm going in the future. And I don't think that's about cognition, that isn't about thinking, it's about owning the experience through craft.

Karen the McCartney Collector

So I went out of London for this one: a Beatles and McCartney collector. She collected everything from the records (all- including bootlegs, and weird covers of Beatles and McCartney stuff) to books to memorabilia (talcum powder, dolls, and postcards) to gigs (nearly all front row centre) to face to face meetings. Karen seemed to use the high fiscal value of her collection as a validating tool- she didn't acquire items because they were expensive but used their value to explain to others why she had collected them. It seems also a bit of a thing with collectors for their collections to take them to other places- it was trainspotting holidays for Tim, Indian tin hunting for Tony and McCartney Road trips for Karen. She spoke about her and her friends (another common thing is this culture of like minded collectors- i guess that's just like friends though right.) would go and follow Paul's tour around the states- only sitting in front row centre seats (AAA) which seemed pretty hardcore. She spoke about how the memorabilia she collected now had to be authentic i.e. from the 60's / 70's as crap knock offs weren't good as people were making too much money off them - although she did say "if it was Paul then I'd get it- I'd just have to." When asked why Paul McCartney? she responded-"Why do some people support Manchester United? I just do" She also spoke about enjoying others incrdulity at the amount of stuff she had- "I can honestly say anyone who's ever some to my house had been wide eyed and open mouthed- it's like... awh!" I guess Beatles items lend themselves to sets as there were 4 of them but even in the McCartney stuff she would have a set of 5 or 6 of the same vinyl which was different countries releases- the promos and the original re-releases. Interestingly whilst she described herself as untidy, her collection contrasted by being centrally located in one room at the heart of the house- it was alphabetically ordered, and organised by subject and medium, whilst not being archived, or listed in any formal way she said she knew what items she had and where every item was, in her head. She also had a McCartney tattoo which i forgot to take a photo of! One if the best quotes was: "I'm a loyal collector, when I collect something, I really collect it. It's why I've never watched shows like x-files etc." In terms of pulling out conclusions, this one seems quite hard, but i'd have to focus on- the breadth of the collection: from experience to record (directly influenced by the artist) to memorabilia (indirectly influenced by the artist). The duplication and tiny variations which create the need to possess multiple and (to the untrained eye) identical copies.  The symbolism attached to the subject matter- Paul McCartney. The purhasing owning, possessing of the items being the 'thing' as the records (whilst played) seemed to be thouroughly abstracted from the function. The competitive streak to be the No. 1 fan- in terms of quantity of records and number of gigs attended (I just had to buy it).

Teddy Bears

More interviews, today with  Violet Marriott, a Teddy Bear collector. A very impressive collection that is displayed on her sofa as you walk in which you can't ignore. I guess the things which interested me where the age of the bears, which were generally though not exclusivley, old- like some over 100 years old. The acquisition, ad criteria of the bears was also interesting- they were obtained for aesthetic value and also to prevent their destruction- Vi commented that she liked the tattiest ones best, and they were acquired via auctions, shops, gifts, stealing and skips, and whilst heritage and providence played a part in some of the value (sentimental and fiscal) and where purchased for not inconsiderable sums they were placed on par with the least notable which had become something of a mascot. All the bears wore clothes, mostly made by Vi and she referred to each by name which either referred to some sort of history which the bear had 0r to it's character- Edwin, Rupert (as in Brookes), Seigfried (as in Sassoon), Cherub, Blackie, Brass Eye, etc. A couple of quotes: 'well they're not bears, they're people', 'I like the tatty ones they're special'

Overall I think I took away the idea of collectable and context again i.e. the age and the names and the 'tattyness', the idea of memories and experiences embodied into an object is also notable.  Thanks ever so much to Vi for talking to me.

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