A while back I posted a video showing a vision of ‘augmented reality’, in which ordinary people can earn money by allowing themselves to be immersed in advertising material.
But as compelling as dystopian fantasies can be, it is wonderful to see technology put to anti-commercial uses once in a while. The Artvertiser is an augmented reality project that allows you to look through a set of binoculars that replace advertisements with artworks. Once the software is trained to recognise a certain advertising image, the binoculars replace it with a chosen artwork regardless of whether the image appears on a billboard, in a magazine, or any other place.
The developers of the software are working on a version that is compatible with mobile phone technology. But they shouldn’t stop there. They should team up with the team of engineers at the University of Washington, who have used microscopic scale manufacturing techniques to combine a flexible contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights. It won’t be long before we are able to superimpose a high-resolution display over our field of vision.
You could see art everywhere instead of seeing advertising everywhere. Yes.
