For 20 days in September, 2020, I partnered with a few local businesses to present low-tech interactive, augmented reality artworks. Patrons of an artist-run art fair spread throughout the city were able to see my work by following an interactive map online (see above). Much like Pokémon Go or geocaching, I dispersed my artwork in real life, leaving scannable codes hidden inside and outside participating local businesses. Viewers were able to use their cellphones to experience my animations interacting with the site IRL and see imagery of my favorite food items sold there.
The aim of the project was to try to create a symbiotic, remunerative relationship between creative food entrepreneurs and myself. I wondered, in combining the art patron with the food patron, could I harness a small slice of the art world in LA to support local businesses during a particularly rough time? The businesses who were into the idea in turn provided me with a temporary venue for my work, an opportunity to experiment with a crude, DIY method of augmented reality, and the good feelings associated with trying to provide a social good. Not having much control of whether the intervention would be very financially helpful to businesses, I focused my energy on designing artwork that would provide a humorous diversion from the exhaustion and the sadness of the time.
