Lichtenfels
AR

Visitors could experience the exhibit at different locations throughout Lichtenfels, where virtual worlds and reality merged to create an entirely new art experience. To access the installations, an app was first installed on your smartphone. The app’s interactive map guided visitors to predetermined venue sites. Once located, the augmented reality objects could be viewed via smartphone. Some of them moved and were accompanied by sound. Here we provide an overview of the installations and the artists who took part in the exhibit project.

Manuel Rossner (* 1989) lives and works in Berlin. He studied fine arts at the Offenbach University of Art and Design, the School of Decortive Arts in Paris and the Tongji College for Design and Innovation in Shanghai. Rossner has been designing digital spaces and virtual worlds since 2022 - worlds in which he explores the impact of technological developments on society and art. He builds interactive architecture with digital materials that become spatial interventions and virtual extensions.

His organic sculptures seem like objects that can be physically experienced, allowing reality and the digital world to merge. He is interested in questions surrounding the shaping of a future hybrid dimension of art in the digital domain.
With "Float Gallery" and the digital exhibit space "New Float" he strives to create places where digital art can be experienced.

In Lichtenfels, Manuel Rossner showed his "Yellow Spatial Painting." A large format "spatial painting" that invites viewers to sensually experience color, form and material in space.

www.manuelrossner.com
www.realworld.art

Nadine Kolodziey is a visual artist based in Frankfurt and Berlin. She works at the intersection of digital and analog design. Kolodziey combines hand-worked materials such as cut or melted plastic with the pixel - her virtual material of choice for creating walkable augmented reality environments. The world of colour and shape in her work is influenced by her examination of pop culture, historical drawings and contemporary Japanese culture.

Her installation "Jump the Light" at the Lichtenfels City Palace makes striking use of movement and sound. A colossal figure jumps out at viewers before running down a street of virtual flora and disappearing into thin air. The plants react to touch by emitting different tonal pitches and can be played like "God's Keyboard." Nadine Kolodziey says: "Energy and speed are central aspects of life in the digital age. Either you jump or you stay put. Don't be afraid. Jump. New adventures await you."

www.nadinekolodziey.com
@nadinekolodziey

kennedy+swan (founded in 2013) includes the collaborative works of artists* Bianca Kennedy and Swan Collective. In their collaboration, they create videos and virtual reality experiences that explore the future of evolution and its impact on plants, animals, and humans. These utopias are liberated from human supremacy and illuminate the ecological benefits of hybrid life forms in which humans, plants, and animals communicate and form symbiotic relationships. The duo has exhibited internationally in galleries, museums and festivals, including the Lyon Biennale, the Art Museum Stuttgart, Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts, Bärenzwinger Berlin, CCBB Rio de Janeiro, Loop Barcelona Discover Award, and Sundance Film Festival. They are based in Berlin.

For the Lichtenfels exhibit, kennedy+swan developed "BÆB": a being in which biological and artificial intelligence merge in an ideal way, giving us a glimpse into a potential future.

BÆB - the first Bio-ArtificiaI Evolution Bunny - is the smartest being in the universe. Due to the symbiosis of biological and artificial intelligence, it has very special abilities, and humanity places godlike trust in it. BÆB is benevolent, because it allows humanity to share its intelligence. Placed on a column in front of the Lichtenfels train station, it can be consulted by passersby and it provides advice on how to lead a better life.

www.kennedyswan.com

Swiss artist Pascal Sender studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with Peter Doig and at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He works with analog and digital painting and presents his virtually augmented works via specially produced apps. He uses his painting as a springboard for 3D models, extending them in space and time, making them accessible in a multi-layered way. His works often allow viewers to participate in the creative process or involve them directly via interaction possibilities.

Pascal Sender combines the classical medium of painting with state-of-the-art digital tools. He uses smartphones and ephemeral live streaming performances to expand his universe.
The artist is based in Düsseldorf and London.

He conceived his work "wait for it" for the Bamberger Gate in Lichtenfels. A massive virtual mechanism works under the medieval stone arch. Its movements follow a mysterious pattern reflecting the inner life of the actual work, which appears in the archway like an impenetrable digital trapdoor when the display button is activated.

www.pascalsender.com

Barbara Herold is a media artist. In her work, she investigates established structures and phenomena that have taken root through media technology’s influence on society. She creates simulation worlds and modifies and develops playful systems. "Her work is a synthesis of pop art, network aesthetics, DIY digital culture, and contemporary graphics." (G. Louw) - taking the form of audiovisual (virtual) installations, animations, videos or print series.Barbara Herold studied free art / new media with Ulrike Rosenbach at the Saar College of Fine Arts. In her art, she explores the shifting interfaces between man and machine, with particular focus on nature and artificiality. In recent years, the artist has developed a series of AR installations for mobile devices, which can be experienced, among other places, at the Kulturspeicher in Würzburg, at the Münchener Freiheit in Munich and in Merkelpark at the Villa Merkel in Esslingen. Her works are represented in the collections of the Lenbachhaus Municipal Gallery, Munich and the Municipal Prints and Drawings Collection of the city of Esslingen.
(Portrait Photo Nikita Teryoshin © kuenstlerhausvillaconcordia)

"Pool Party" is a playful installation created by the artist that can be viewed from a distance or entered directly. Experienced up close, the geometric shapes become abstract yet physically accessible worlds of color.

www.barbaraherold.net

As a practicing, independent architect since 1991, Peter Haimerl has focused on projects that exceed the limits of conventional architecture. His aim is to come up with fascinating, unconventional solutions and innovations for every project. In order to meet this conceptual requirement, his work process is characterized by exchange, involving a wide range of experts. This results in holistic concepts in which architecture merges with fields as wide ranging as computer programming, sociology, economics, politics, music or conceptual art.

For the design of the Archiv der Zukunft Lichtenfels building, Peter Haimerl has combined innovative architecture with the centuries-old basket weaving tradition of the city. The modern glass pavilion on the market square is vaulted by an oversized steel structure in the shape of two willow trees. The planning and implementation of the willow architecture has posed considerable challenges to architects, builders, structural engineers and metal workers, and these challenges have been followed with great interest by architecture enthusiasts and Lichtenfels residents alike. Before the willows are actually erected in spring 2023, an augmented reality installation on the market square will give all Lichtenfels residents a view of the trees on a scale of 1:1. The release of the AR architecture will conclude the series of "unveilings" of all objects in the LICHTENFELS AR exhibition on October 21, 2022.

www.peterhaimerl.com