Abstract
This chapter describes augmented reality interventions led by the author in 2011 with the artist group Manifest.AR at the Venice Biennale, and in collaboration with the design office PATTU at the Istanbul Biennale. The interventions used the emerging technology of mobile augmented reality to geolocate virtual artworks—visible for viewers in the displays of their smartphones as overlays on the live camera view of their surroundings—inside the normally curatorially closed spaces of the exhibitions via GPS coordinates. Our interventions used the site-specific character of the technology to create works of art that stand in dialog with the sites and will retain their relevance long after the biennials are over. The site figures as the canvas for the artworks and forms an integral visual and contextual component of each artwork. Unlike physical art interventions, the artworks cannot be removed or blocked by the curators or other authorities and will remain at those locations as long as the artist desires. The artworks exploit the site-specificity as an integral part of the artwork while simultaneously questioning the value of location to canonize works of art and the power of the curator as gatekeeper to control access to the spaces that consecrate works of art as part of the high art canon.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
In October 2010 Sander Veenhof and Mark Skwarek organized the AR intervention “We AR in MoMA” (Veenhof 2010) for the Conflux Festival of Psychogeography (Conflux Festival 2010). Cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling blogged the intervention on WIRED (Sterling 2010), MoMA tweeted “Nice, looks like we’re having an ‘uninvited’ AR exhibition tomorrow!” (Museum of Modern Art 2010), and later in an interview with the New York Times the director of digital media welcomed our engagement with her museum (Fidel 2010).
- 2.
In 2012 the author helped the Caribbean Cultural Center and African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) to bring in a Rockefeller Cultural Innovation Grant to create “Mi Querido Barrio,” an augmented reality tour of the history and art of East Harlem. As AR Artistic Director for the project the author is conducting AR workshops for artists in East Harlem (Rockefeller Foundation 2012; CCCADI 2012).
- 3.
The author’s contribution to “We AR in MoMA” was a matrix of screaming faces titled “ARt Critic Face Matrix,” a self-referential artwork that critiqued its own validity as an artwork, reflecting on the role of MoMA NY to define what did or did not constituted art (Thiel 2010).
- 4.
Although Curiger refers frequently to the “five questions,” they are not to be found on the official Venice Biennale website. See for instance Flash Art (2011).
References
Aceti L (2008) The virtual places we own: when communities and artists occupy your place without your consent. Internet Research 9.0: Rethinking Community, Rethinking Place, pp 15–8
Aceti L. Not there. Kasa gallery. http://www.lanfrancoaceti.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/not-there-exhibition-brochure.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20110925111756/http://isea2011.sabanciuniv.edu/other-event/not-there). Both links accessed 15 October 2021
Aceti L, Rinehart R, Şahin Ö et al (ed) (2013) Not here not there. Leonardo Electron Almanac 19(2). http://www.leoalmanac.org/vol19-no2-not-here-not-there-part-2/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Caravansarai. http://www.caravansarai.info (2013). Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora (CCCADI). Mi Querido Barrio augmented reality project. http://www.cccadi.org/miqueridobarrio (2012–2016). Accessed 15Oct 2021
Cleater J (2011) Sky pavilions. Manifest.AR venice biennale 2011 intervention website. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/cleater-venice-2011/. Accessed 15 October 2021.
Conflux Festival (2010) We AR in MoMA. http://confluxfestival.org/projects/conflux-festival-2010/we-ar-in-moma/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021 via Internet Archive Wayback Machine capture https://web.archive.org/web/20101013055252/http://confluxfestival.org/projects/conflux-festival-2010/we-ar-in-moma/
Curiger B (2011) Introduction by Bice Curiger. ILLUMInazioni—ILLUMInations. Venice Biennale website. http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/archive/54th-exhibition/curiger/. Accessed 15 October 2021 via internet archive wayback machine capture: https://web.archive.org/web/20130528211502/http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/archive/54th-exhibition/curiger/
Fidel A (2010) Art gets unmasked in the palm of your hand. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/arts/02iht-rartsmart.html. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Flash Art Bice Curiger speaks about the Venice Biennale. http://tamikothiel.com/AR/sa/BiceCurigerSpeaksAboutTheVeniceBiennale_FlashArt2011-01.pdf. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Freeman JC (2011) Water wARs: squatters pavilion. Manifest.AR Venice Biennale 2011 Intervention website. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/freeman-venice-2011/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Gibson W (1984) Neuromancer. Ace Books, New York
Istanbul Biennale (2011) Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial). http://12b.iksv.org/en/son_haberler.asp?id=35&c=3. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Lily, Honglei (2011) The crystal coffin: virtual China Pavilion. Manifest.AR Venice Biennale 2011 intervention website. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/lily-honglei-venice-2011/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Madra Y (2006) From imperialism to transnational capitalism: the Venice Biennial as a ‘Transitional Conjuncture.’ Rethinking Marxism 18(4). http://www.academia.edu/2072820/From_Imperialism_to_Transnational_Capitalism_The_Venice_Biennial_as_a_Transitional_Conjuncture_. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Magill RJ Jr (2007) For Gregor Schneider’s cube, a long pilgrimage. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/arts/16iht-cube.1.5303319.html. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Manifest.AR. AR Art Manifesto. Manifest.AR artist group official website. Originally http://www.manifestar.info/ (2011). Accessed 12 Mar 2013. Currently http://manifest-ar.art/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Manifest.AR blog. “Not there,” Kasa Gallery, Istanbul. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/not-there-kasa-gallery-istanbul/ (2011b). Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Manifest.AR blog. About Manifest.AR. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/about/ (2013). Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Manifest.AR Venice Biennale Intervention launch page (launch links do not work anymore). http://manifestar.info/vb11/ (2011), original link accessed 14 Mar 2013, now defunct. http://manifest-ar.art/vb11/, updated link accessed 15 Oct 2021
Manifest.AR Venice Biennale Intervention. Venice Biennial 2011 AR Intervention by Cyberartist Group Manifest.AR, Reflection on the official curatorial context. Original link: http://www.manifestar.info/venicebiennial2011/ (2011a), accessed 12 Mar 2013. Current link: http://www.manifest-ar.art/venicebiennial2011/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Manifest.AR Venice Biennale Intervention. Joint Venice Biennale Intervention flyer for Manifest.AR and Invisible Pavilion. Original link: http://manifestar.info/venicebiennial2011/biennale2011_jointPostcard.pdf (2011b). Accessed 29 Nov 2013. Current link: http://manifest-ar.art/venicebiennial2011/biennale2011_jointPostcard.pdf. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Museum of Modern Art NY Twitter site. https://twitter.com/#!/MuseumModernArt/statuses/26786135774 (2010). Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Definition of “real.” 2021. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/real. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Pappenheimer W, Virta-Flaneurazine. Colony Illuminati. Manifest.AR Venice Biennale 2011 Intervention. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/pappenheimer-venice-2011/ (2011). Accessed 15 Oct 2021
PATTU. Invisible Istanbul: Urban Dynamics. Original version: http://www.invisibleistanbul.org/ud/ (2011). Accessed 12 Mar 2013. Current version: https://www.pattu.net/en/invisible-istanbul/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Pattu (2017) Architecture, research, design. http://pattu.net/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
PATTU, Thiel T. Invisible Istanbul. http://www.invisibleistanbul.org/ (2011). Accessed 15 Oct 2021 2017 via Internet Archive Wayback Machine capture from 11 March. 2016: https://web.archive.org/web/20111125101557/http://www.invisibleistanbul.org/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Rinehart R. Not here: an augmented reality project by MANIFEST.AR. Samek Gallery. http://galleries.blogs.bucknell.edu/2011/07/08/current-exhibitionnot-here/ (2011). Originally accessed 17 August 2017. Now accessible via internet archive wayback machine capture from 05 September 2012: https://web.archive.org/web/20120905045710/http://galleries.blogs.bucknell.edu/2011/07/08/current-exhibitionnot-here/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Rockefeller Foundation (2012) Caribbean Cultural Center—African Diaspora Institute. http://www.tamikothiel.com/articles/MiQueridoBarrioPressRelease2013-04-09.pdf. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Skwarek M (2011) Parade to hope. Manifest.AR Venice Biennale 2011 Intervention. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/skwarek-venice-2011/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Standage T (2012) Live and unplugged. The Economist. http://www.economist.com/news/21566417-2013-internet-will-become-mostly-mobile-medium-who-will-be-winners-and-losers-live-and. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Sterling B (2010) Augmented reality: AR uninvited at MOMA NYC. Beyond the Beyond. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/2010/10/augmented-reality-ar-uninvited-at-moma-nyc/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Talbot D Kenya’s startup boom. Technology Review. MIT, Cambridge, MA.https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/02/21/187482/kenyas-startup-boom/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Thiel T (2010) We AR in MoMA exhibit. Tamiko Thiel website. http://www.tamikothiel.com/We-AR-in-MoMA/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Thiel T (2011a) Invisible Istanbul: Captured Images. Tamiko Thiel website. http://www.tamikothiel.com/AR/ii/images.html. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Thiel T (2011b) Shades of absence. Manifest.AR Venice Biennale 2011 Intervention. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/thiel_venice-2011/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Tosa N (2011) Historia. Manifest.AR Venice Biennale 2011 Intervention. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/naoko-tosa-venice-biennial-2011/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
U.S. Library of Congress (2013) Abdul-Hamid II Collection of photographs of the Ottoman Empire: Search term ‘Tophane’ http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=tophane&sg=true; Cannon captured from foreign states http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b28721/; Cannon shells in various sizes http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b28724/; Drill of the students of Tophane http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b47778/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Veenhof S (2010) DIY day MoMA Oct 9th 2010 AUGMENTED REALITY art invasion! Sander Veenhof website. http://www.sndrv.nl/moma/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Veenhof S (2011) Battling Pavilions. Manifest.AR Venice Biennale 2011 Intervention. http://manifestarblog.wordpress.com/sander-veenhof-venice-biennial-2011/ See also: http://www.sndrv.nl/battle/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021
Acknowledgements
Parts of the text and images on the Venice Biennial intervention were previously published as "Site Venice Site Biennale: The Manifest.AR Augmented Reality, Intervention into the 2011 Venice Biennial" in AR[t] magazine, 05 May 2014, ISSN 2213-2481, published by The Augmented Reality Lab (AR Lab), Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
I am deeply grateful to the following people, without whose help much of what is described in this chapter would not have happened:
Lanfranco Aceti, Editor in Chief of LEA, Director of ISEA2011 and the Kasa Gallery of Sabanci University.
Özden Sahin, Co-Editor of LEA, Conference and Program Director of ISEA2011, Vice-Director and In-house Curator of the Kasa Gallery of Sabanci University.
Rick Reinhart, Director of the Samek Gallery, Bucknell University, and external Co-Editor of the special AR issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac “Not Here Not There.”
Simona Lodi, Share Festival Director, and Gionatan Quintini, Les Liens Invisible, who curated and organized the “Invisible Pavilion” intervention at the Venice Biennale. Many thanks for the wonderful collaboration with Manifest.AR!
Julie Upmeyer and Annika Weshinskey of Caravansarai artist residency in Istanbul for their support and networking. Without them, Invisible Istanbul would not exist.
My fellow artists at Manifest.AR: Sander Veenhof, Mark Skwarek, John Craig Freeman, Will Pappenheimer, Naoko Tosa, John Cleater, and Lily and Honglei, for the ongoing journey together.
My fellow artists at PATTU: Cem Kozar and Işıl Ünal, who taught me so much.
Cornelia Reinauer, the Berlin-Istanbul Express, for support and deep insights.
Elif Dazkir, who wonders when I will remember the Turkish she taught me years ago.
Viviana Torre, Fausto Sartori, and Lorenzo Urbani, who opened the doors to Venice for me.
Marco Ceresa and Bruce Leimsidor, who helped me to reach another level.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thiel, T. (2022). Critical Interventions into Canonical Spaces: Augmented Reality at the 2011 Venice and Istanbul Biennials. In: Geroimenko, V. (eds) Augmented Reality Art. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96863-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96863-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-96862-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-96863-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)