ART+ app is created by new media and 3D artists based in Liepaja. ART+ gallery offers 27 different objects around Liepaja for Android and iOS users.
Google Play: https://ej.uz/artplus
Apple Store: https://ej.uz/iosart
ART+ in your browser (for those who don’t have a valid device or who are not presently in Liepaja): https://artplus.app
ART+ will work on iPhones released after 6S; a list of Android devices that will run the app available hers: https://developers.google.com/ar/devices#google_play_devices.
ART+ will not run on devices that don’t support Google services.
ART+ was created to allow digital, sound art, 3D and conceptual artists to exhibit their work publicly without gallery restrictions. ART+ features visual, conceptual, interactive, educational and also playful works for children. ART+ artists create and exhibit what they feel is relevant, so artworks in the app are diverse, and the creators of ART+ are confident that everyone will be able to find a topic that interests them.
Magical and ecological works
Since ART+ brings together artists who are also researchers from different fields, most ART+ works are based on data, concepts, reflect scientific processes and ideas. This year, a large part of works are related to ecology and food. Visually, the new ART+ works look magical, fantastic – evergreen fields, root forests, glittering himmeli, fish swimming in the air, huge, generative vines, food towers, scanned living rooms and other works.
In the “Anna’s market” square, two works can be seen that show the eating habits of Latvians – food towers and potato piles show how much and what kind of food we eat in a year. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, carrots and cabbages stretched into the sky and swaying in the wind, but potato piles can be used to compare how eating habits have changed – Latvians today wat almost twice less potatoes than 10 years ago.
In the Radi Vidi Pats community garden ART+ users can see “Another Way to Grow” – an aquaponics system that is designed so that the viewer can study every detail and component; also from within. Aquaponics is a plant growing method that uses fish and fish waste to grow plants in water.
In Seaside Park, near the Monument For The Fishermen And Sailors Lost At Sea, two works can be seen, each of which in its own way illustrates the problems regarding lawns. “White Clover” is an evergreen meadow placed on top the park’s lawn, reminding the viewer that clover could be a beautiful and ecological alternative to the traditional lawn. While the work “Roots” visualizes the reason why some plants, such as lawn grass, need to be watered in the summer, while others, such as clover, tolerate drought much better.
Elza Ozola’s “Digital Leftovers” is the artist’s comment on our digitally connected rooms and on the busyness of today’s human mind, the constant daily anxiety and stress, symbolized in the work by scanned messes of different people. Kaspar Levald’s “Traveler from another reality” also comments on online communication tools – how friends, acquaintances, colleagues today are faces on flat screens.
The work of Marta Gutmane can be seen at the entrance of the Liepaja Latvian Society House, which illustrates the anxiety felt by the artist and the changes in eating habits caused by the increasingly alarming climate and energy crisis.
“Rockabye” by sound artist Krista Dintere and himmeli made by Patrick Borgeat can be found in the children’s playground of Seaside Park. Both artists use the idea of repetition in the work that they created together. Right next to “Rockabye”, there is another audiovisual work of art – a huge, generative creeper that responds to piano music. Headphones are recommended when viewing both of these works.
How to view work in augmented reality?
- The viewer will need a smartphone or a tablet (with GPS and internet connection). The viewer needs to go to the app store and download ART+. If you already have ART+ on your device, you need to go to the app store and update it.
- A virtual object is located at a specific location shown on the map. The viewer must find this place and step onto the point, then he will be given the opportunity to press the button “View the artwork”. At this point, the object is placed on top or next to the viewer, and they can start their experience – walk around or enter the artwork, step back to see the object as a whole, or go closer to look at textures.
- If something seems to have gone wrong, if the object does not look as it should, restart the app.
The ART+ curator will be happy to accompany groups on tours of ART+ works and tell more about the technical and artistic process of creating the app and artworks. For communication: Maija Demitere (maija.demitere@gmail.com, +371 29948430).
ART+ is created by ASTE, a Liepaja based collective of artists. All ASTE activities in 2022 are supported by Liepaja Municipality support for NGO’s and State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia (VKKF) support for NGO’s. ART+ artworks are created with the support of Liepaja Municipality, Liepaja City Municipality institution “Culture Department”, Kurzeme Planning Region, State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia (VKKF). ART+ objects are created as part of the EIT Community New European Bauhaus project “Growing Food In Liepaja” and is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
