My A3 assignment is a meditation on the creation of an app that leverages AR to bring advanced technologies and techniques within the field of Technical Art History to undergraduate learners – all without having to step foot in an international gallery or graduate-level lab. The inspiration for this idea came from the Art Gallery of Ontario’s exhibit: Picasso: The Blue Period, which showcases the phenomenal work of a multi-institutional team in revealing the hidden portraits beneath three of Picasso’s ‘blue period’ paintings. The techniques used are advanced, and invite learners to study the curated data sets to make new linkages between the paintings. The big question is: how to expose learners to these data sets through means that are open, immersive and 3D interactive to capture the depths and details of the data? If the instruments of technical art history are (re-)shaping the way we understanding legendary artwork, should not the way this artwork is taught change, as well? Perhaps, there (should) be an app for that…
Please refer to my site to explore this idea – I strongly encourage critical feedback as I am not as familiar with AR as many of you are.
Hi Jessica,
I was reminded of the Magic School Bus while going through your presentation, which would be pretty cool! As an elementary school teacher, there have been plenty of times that I’ve wished to have access to technology that could take my students up close and personal into lesson content. I think there’s not enough appreciation for art because it is often one of the first programs that gets cut when a school is trying to find room in their budget. I wonder if an AR app like this would help non-artists better appreciate art?
I think there are ways to work around and with copyright laws because of what has happened with music. People used to have to buy CDs, then there was Napster and now there’s YouTube, Spotify and other streaming services available so you can listen to music for free, albeit with advertisements.
Hi Jessica,
Your draft module is inaccessible. It is requesting a password.
Your idea is an interesting one, and I suspected the copyright issue would not be as big a stumbling block as you think, as many art galleries are already creating virtual tours through Google Arts and Culture, and when scientist / historians are working in a gallery, there is generally a requirement to be sharing their work with the gallery.
Also, I enjoyed learning about the more technical aspects of art history.
Unfortunately, my sense is that copyright would remain an issue. Much of the renderings within this particular exhibition, for example, were under a SOCAN license, in terms of rights management of visual artists’ renderings. Moreover, all of the images provided by the researchers were attributed. Whilst researchers in the gallery may sign-off on sharing their work with the gallery, they would not necessarily sign-off on their research as an open-educational resource. These are important questions, and certainly are issues that could preclude the development and implementation of an app such as this.
I should have been more specific here. Working with artistic works in galleries and with researchers is often a lot less daunting than people think. You approach the gallery, artist, and / or researchers whose pieces you wish to feature, and you’d be surprised how often the answer is yes, provided you have an idea they like and they see the value in it for their goals and endeavours. Of course, you never put all your eggs in one basket. Have back up plans of other art you’d like to feature. But if you don’t ask and assume a negative answer, then the opportunity will never exist.
Hi Jessica!
As a history teacher, I think Material X would be a great addition to my lessons. I know my students would love to explore the materials, techniques and methods behind the artworks. I was part of the AR team for the A2 project, therefore I am very interested in how augmented reality can be integrated in the classroom. In our project, I presented Google Arts and Culture, an application that allows students and teachers to experience art, history and culture directly in the classroom. By giving the app access to the device’s camera, students can explore renowned creations from across the globe. I believe Material X takes it one step further ! I see this type of AR being present in our classrooms in the near future.
Hi Joelle, thanks for your comments. I’ve used Google Arts and Culture in one of my courses previously, and it’s such a great resource! I agree, AR can push the concept further, and allow for an even more immersive experience. The great benefit of approaches that fall under this umbrella is that their integration de facto works as a corrective to a history curriculum (at least a secondary level) that seems to remain fairly Eurocentric. Thanks for your comments!
Hello Jessica! I also wrote my project on the uses and possible integration of Augmented Reality into educational settings, so your look into AR and its place in art history is very interesting to me! I have seen a few examples of AR being used to digitally restore artwork, as well as a mode of interaction for views to immerse themselves into artistic digital landscapes, and I would love to see the field of AR expanded into technical art history on a wider scale. I appreciate your concise introduction into what Material X is, as well as what technical art history is, as I have little to no background in art history. Your app concept is extremely interesting, and your justification for why you want to utilize AR makes a lot of sense. Awesome project!
H Cody, thanks for your comments. I, too, have little to no background in technical art history, but I do love a good gallery exhibition, and so I feel something like this can even find traction with the ordinary fairweather art enthusiast like me. I just seemed to me after visiting this visit that the content communicated simply begged for an immersive, 3D mode of delivery. Not to mention the physical act of walking through a gallery tends to lend itself to a mobile experience. Surely, the audio component that is standard for all exhibitions could be leveraged within this app, to perhaps have the researchers also walk through the process (much in the same way that the exhibit created visual pathway images to communicate the techniques used for each painting). Thanks for your thoughts!
Hi Jessica! I’m sold. I think an app like the one you described above would add great learning value to an undergraduate student, or anyone for that matter, interested in technical art history. I like the convenience of the app. If I understood you correctly, a student could flip through a book, take in a beautiful piece of art, scan it and then see a digital image that shows other layers which include information, explanations, sketches of hidden art beneath and so on. I want to try it out! If most of this technical art information exists already as data sets then what a creative tool to teach art to the world. Copyright is a dilemma; however, isn’t everything available for a price? I wonder if the research teams would be willing/interested in being a part of a project like this if they new there could be financial gain? Lastly, I wasn’t sure what the Draft Outline section was trying to show me (maybe I missed something). Is that an outline to a course that would leverage your imagined app? Overall, super interesting presentation and idea Jessica!:)
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for your thoughtful review! You are spot-on: essentially the idea is that learners can indeed flip through a book, or more broadly an rendition of a piece of artwork, and scan it, and then select from multiple filters to display layers that would speak to the data uncovered via the technical art history technologies used. For example, the exhibit displayed multiple 2D images representative of the researchers’ findings – here is the image of the original, here is what is looks like after this technique was applied, here is what the painting underneath looks like, and so on – but with this app, by leveraging 3D, you can see how these data set, in layers, inform the painting. Most importantly, as you note, is how this app as a teaching tool will assist learners to not only have access to these data sets, but play around with them as well, and work toward creating linkages between the original paintings and what’s underneath. How cool would it be to hold up your phone to a painting, click on the ‘properties’ filter, and immediately visualize the data provided by the researchers concerning the properties of the painting – the example I cited being that of mercury that was detected in The Blue Room. I agree, the Copyright is definitely an issue, as this exhibit’s images – particularly those provided by the researchers – attributed in every instance, but also any reproductions of the paintings referenced SOCAN, which of course is absolutely expensive. There would have to be a big buy-in to make something like this work, with I’m assuming researcher with stature in the technical art field such as Delaney being at the proprietary forefront of any app development. Thanks again for pushing me further on this!
It would be an art subject matter expert in your pocket!