Mural Artists Use Augmented Reality To Highlight Effects Of Climate Change

The power of graffiti and street art has been used by generations of young people in order to make a name for themselves or make a powerful statement on the state of society. But isn’t paint on a wall a bit old hat? Exactly, we need some modern technology to spruce things up, and that’s way augmented reality (AR) is being used in the latest street art pieces and murals to bring attention to a global issue that threatens us all; climate change.

Now, a new mural is going up near the City of Miami Cemetary which can be viewed through your smartphone in order to see the possible side effects of climate change. Curbed Miami reports that the mural was painted live in front of a small audience of gatherers and passers-by.

The company who put the mural in place, Before It’s Too Late, are using art, virtual reality (VR), simulations and science in order to make a statement about climate change. They’re a group founded by MIT graduate students who want to make people more aware of the dangers of climate change and what they can do to prevent it. You can learn more about them on their website.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen street art and graffiti cross paths. In the AR app WallaMe you can leave AR art and messages on any wall space virtually, allowing other app users to view it when they visit the same space.

The AR graffiti app Gif-iti also altered real graffiti, by using special patterns which enable the phone to make the images pules and move like a real life gif.

Of course, if you want to get creative in the virtual world there are also options like Kingspray Graffiti, which can immerse you in a digital world that you can decorate and design at will.

It’s fascinating that street art has moved towards AR technology like this, but it makes sense. It’s natural though, as so many traditional art forms are moving further into the digital space. As more things like graffiti and street art make the jump to AR and VR, you’ll read about it on VRFocus.

Graffiti GIFs Become Real with the Gif-iti App

Graffiti is that homely artwork you’ll find scrawled across the bus timetable at your local bus stop, describing your mother in various illicit ways. Yes, the above might be your experience with graffiti, perhaps the most aimless method of insult, like subtweeting someone who doesn’t know what the internet is. But in fact, graffiti isn’t all bad, some of it is incredible, moving, and even… Well, literally moving.

Enter Gif-iti, the app that’ll literally bring street art and wall murals to life. INSA is the British artist, now world-renowned, who wants to bring street art to life – literally. By combining his new app, Gif-iti, with some very carefully planned artwork and augmented reality (AR), you can bring street art to life, as the app recognises and animates the art.

Now, this won’t work with the aforementioned “art” you’ll find at your local bus stop – INSA needs to design the art himself and animate it accordingly within his app before it’s updated. This does make one thing awkward however, as not everyone can easily travel to see INSA’s artwork…

Well luckily you can enjoy the experience at home too. All you need to do is download INSA’s Gif-iti app on the App Store, and visit his website here. Use the phone’s app and point your camera at INSA’s artwork, and they should spring to life.

If you’d like to see INSA’s art for yourself, you can find it all over the world, and he just might pop up at an art event or festival near you.

For all of the latest on futuristic artwork using augmented reality, stay on VRFocus.