31Aug/18Off
Street Artist Escif Is Using Augmented Reality to Challenge the Boundaries of Graffiti
With the advent of augmented reality (AR), it’s now possible to intervene on street art itself, sharing digital easter eggs with those who seek them. U.K. artist INSA creates trippy GIF murals for his fans to hunt down around the world; Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra has experimented with the technology, too.
This summer, Escif took AR graffiti indoors for an installation at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. The show, “Encore un jour banane pour le poisson-rêve”—or “Another Banana Day for the Dream-Fish”—explores the wonder, inventiveness, and anxiety of childhood, featuring works by over 30 international artists, including Keita Miyazaki, Kiki Smith, Ugo Rondinone, and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
American, 1928–1987
Follow
Obsessed with celebrity, consumer culture, and mechanical (re)production, Pop artist Andy Warhol created some of the most iconic images of the 20th
This is a new feature. Tell us what you think.
.
Escif’s installation for the show, entre l’amour et la peur (2018), at first resembles a series of black scribbles dashed on a large white wall, as if an unattended child had just discovered the potential of the Sharpie marker. In fact, children are responsible: The spontaneous marks are the result of a group of 6- to 8-year-olds engaging in “exercises in microvandalism,” as described by Escif, in which they drew on printed pictures of sculptures exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo. Those pictures were then uploaded to a custom-built app, Graffiti Yoga. Download the app and hold up your phone to a scribble, and the underlying sculpture is revealed.