Snapchat recently launched a collaboration with Jeff Koons to showcase his iconic sculptures across the world using the platform’s augmented reality feature. But not all artists are thrilled with the idea.
On Wednesday New York-based artist Sebastian Errazuriz and his studio Cross Lab protested Snapchat’s latest attempt to woo users by vandalizing Koons’ Balloon Dog installation, which appears on the app in Central Park.
Errazuriz explained the new feature and protest on Instagram, writing, “It all seems fun, but I believe it is imperative we start questioning how much of our virtual public space we are willing to give to companies.”
He went on to acknowledge his belief that in time “the boundaries between reality and virtual reality fade” and urged people to consider the potential that AR could lead to public spaces being “dominated by corporate content designed to subconsciously manipulate and control us.”
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Errazuriz shared a photograph of Koons’ Central Park AR sculpture followed by his plan to vandalize it with the “first augmented reality graffiti bombing.” The following sketch and 3D digital model show Errazuriz hard at work spray painting short phrases like “NYC” and “Bang! Bang!” onto the golden balloon dog.
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The final result? A graffiti-bombed version of the AR sculpture, which Errazuriz geo-tagged as the exact same GPS coordinates as Snapchat’s version. Game on. Though the protest art won’t be visible using Snapchat, Errazuriz created an independent app called ARNYC.NYCthat people can use to see his alternative virtual artwork.
“If Snapchat and Jeff Koons are the first to create a geo-tagged augmented reality corporate artwork, we will be the first to vandalize it as a way to question its legitimacy,” Errazuriz wrote on Instagram.
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According to Errazuriz’s Instagram post, “The vandalized Balloon Dog was submitted to Snapchat with no response.”
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Source: Mashable