Immersive visual technology such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can be utilised for all manner of different experiences. AR company Blippar along with 30-year old artist Scarlett Raven, have launched a brand new visual arts experience combining oil painting and AR technology called The Danger Tree.
Launched on 1st July, and continuing through to 30th July 2016, The Danger Tree commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Using the Blippar smartphone app users can unlock Scarlett’s work, stripping away the countless layers of paint to reveal the creative journey beneath each painting found in the exhibition.
Opening in New Capital Quay, London, UK, award winning film set designer Kave Quinn will transform the 2,000ft space in Greenwich to create a blown out building from the French/Belgian borders.
Visitors will hear the sounds of war echo from parts of the exposed roof and walls as they view each of Scarlett’s paintings hanging from the walls, each lit and positioned to take the viewer on an incredible journey.
Beginning at The Danger Tree, moving through to the penultimate painting Black Poppies and the final painting, The Soldier. The collection is a multi-layered, immersive work, inspired by the WW1 poets Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Rupert Brooke. It’s also a memorial tribute to the Newfoundland Regiment who used a tree roughly halfway into “No Man’s Land” to gather. Unfortunately this tree could be easily seen by the German artillery, thus resulting in most of the regiment being wiped out. Soldiers then referred to it as The Danger Tree, and now a replica stands in its place.
After finishing its run in London the exhibition will then travel around the UK throughout October and November 2016, heading to The Mailbox in Birmingham, Castle Fine Art in Manchester and an unannounced location in Liverpool.
VRFocus will continue its AR coverage, reporting back with any new announcements.
