Our augmented reality work identifies a need to create immersive experiences for creative higher education. Despite shaping emerging artists and creators, many are yet to fully embrace the value and creative potential found in immersive technologies. After delivering a number of digital degree shows in 2020, we found an opportunity to develop the online experience further. Coventry University’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities end of year exhibition was traditionally made up of multiple in-person events. In 2020 we created a website in place of this show - designed and built within 5 weeks as a response to Covid-19. It was hugely successful in attracting many more visitors than previous shows (44,000 in 4 days). In 2021 they wanted to build upon the experience to create a digital platform with immersive technology at its core. We created an AR app that celebrates the global connectivity of the work - a virtual exhibition that can be viewed anywhere in the world, transforming the physical space around you with art, film, design and performance. The app geographically coordinates your position to display floating AR fragments around you, acting as portals to eight themed rooms. The rooms launch as spherical compositions of image and video content - autoplaying as you freely roam around. Because the content remains fixed to the position from the time you launched the app, you’re able to step outside to see the entire collection of work as a sphere of creative consciousness within your own environment. Our AR work helps effectively solve a problem that has become a collective challenge for many creative faculties; how to redefine their offer in the digital space. The reach and accessibility opportunities of a digital platform far outstrips any from a physical degree show, delivering the event to a wider audience, connecting a global community of staff and students currently separated all over the world, in an inclusive and shared experience. Untethering the graduates’ work from a physical location gives it a life that goes beyond a single event; a longevity that’s lacking in traditional exhibitions. The degree show has always been a space for creating opportunities to meet industry and, by preserving and presenting their creativity through AR, those opportunities are suddenly thrown out to a wider audience no longer dependent on time or space. Creatively, AR allows us to have a more innovative approach to storytelling. The platform is inherently engaging, challenging our perceptions of how we see, display and curate art. Movement and interaction using the app provides a sense of physicality and exploration - a collective experience that has been missing from the student experience for the past year. It adds new creative dimensions to the art and the stories it celebrates. It’s important to constantly challenge how we create meaningful student experiences. For an audience of digital natives, we need to make the most of content, designing experiences that are personalised and valuable. More importantly, we need to bring student work to the forefront, creating a space to celebrate their talent. It’s about providing maximum exposure and support in a world where it’s more difficult than ever to get started in a creative field. By merging creativity with technology, we’re embedding a narrative of growth and storytelling that elevates the way we celebrate and showcase creative subjects. It even has potential to change the landscape of how we interact with young creatives’ work. It’s vital that we champion the use of these technologies for the next generation of emerging talent, encouraging them to push boundaries, redefine cultural experiences and what art means for the future. We see the development of Createch as being symbiotic with the progression of our studio as we look to define new ways to innovate and communicate within digital spaces. We’re a small, agile studio of 12, driven by ideas to engage and solve problems, and want to collaborate with artists and developers who can translate our conceptual thinking into digital realities. Whether it’s creating sound reactive identities, generating experimental AI neurographed images for an international rockstar, or an AR exhibition for a university, we - and the industry - are only scratching the surface of what potential these immersive platforms and technologies can offer. We want to be part of shaping how we can use these tools to communicate ideas for the future. It’s important for us that we continue our development to facilitate the scale of ambition we have. To be affiliated with CIC and be part of the community will only help.
