This document discusses the use of augmented reality in art galleries and museums, using the exhibition ReBlink at the Art Gallery of Ontario as a case study. ReBlink reimagined 10 artworks from the gallery's collection by overlaying augmented reality layers that provided modern commentary on each piece. It engaged visitors and doubled their average viewing time. The exhibition was successful and received positive feedback, demonstrating how AR can be used to increase engagement with art in museums.

1. the ARt of
AR
We are here to talk about the Art of AR. Augmented reality, specifically in relationship to it’s use in galleries and
museums.
We will be using the show ReBlink as a case study.

2. Shiralee Hudson Hill
shiralee.hudson@ago.ca
@ShiraleeH
@agotoronto
Alex Mayhew
alex@alexmayhew.co
@alexmayhew
SH intro + Land Acknowledgement
- Shiralee Hudson Hill Lead Interpretive Planner from the Art Gallery of Ontario and I am Alex Mayhew. A digital artist and designer from Impossible Things.

3. Artworks reimagined for the 21st century

4. It is the framework
which changes with
each new technology
and not just the picture
within the frame.
Marshall McLuhan
Marshal Mc.Luhan once said …..
I love this quote as it is so apt to AR and it potential for it’s use in Art.

5. In 2015, my life in the city had become full of confusion, complication and noise, I was exhausted, recovering from a massive and chaotic transmedia project I had just
completed.

6. So to seek solace, I used to come gaze at this painting by Canadian Artist George Reed at the AGO.
I became fixated. I found myself longing for the peacefulness it depicted, free of the stresses of modern day life in the big city.
It was a seductive representation of the past.

7. Whilst I was there I noticed visitors just walk right past hardly even glancing.
Occasionally people would stop, take a photo or selfie and just walk on without even looking at the work. I wondered why?
I think, partly, is that these old paintings often don’t appear to have anything to do with our modern day lives, so they appear somehow alien. But there is something else
going on.

8. 17 seconds?
A *study conducted by MOMA in 2001 would suggest not, it found that the average time looking at a painting was
17 SECONDS, not including casual glances.

9. And Now, 17 years since that report, we have the rise of social media. And we are constantly bombarded by images, no wonder we have
adapted to consume art more rapidly.

10. and with THESE instruments of distraction, the problem is getting worse…

11. 2.31 seconds?
In a recent study at the AGO the average visitor dwell time for each painting in permanent collection galleries is CLICK 2.31 seconds.
So how do you turn these instruments of distractions into instruments of engagement?
Well, we are getting there….

12. ……but there are challenges.
This image is deceptive, they are actually playing educational app and finding out about the Nightwatch.
But to have kids hunched over staring at their phones in front of a grand master just feels wrong, it sends out the unfortunate message.
One of distraction not engagement.

13. So back to this painting… I was feeling a connection with this work because of the contrast with my own life.
Then it occurred to me, by bringing this contrast to the surface of the visitors attention, we can provide them with a frame of reference to better understand the past, as
well as provide an additional artistic commentary between past and present..

14. So I built a proof of concept in augmented reality….

15. In the original the boys huddled together intimately playing a game….

16. Now, when you lift up your device, they are separated, hypnotized into isolation by the glowing flickering light of their screens.
The environments are now in full 3d which means you discover new things as you move around the painting
For example, look over the frame and you will discover the cigarette butts that litter the ground by the trees, which are now marked with an X to be cut down.

17. Vehicles hurtle past leaving trails of exhaust…
A cacophony of modern day sounds can be heard breaking the previous sense of peace…

18. What excited the AGO was that it functioned as both an artistic intervention as well as a non-didactic engagement strategy.
In testing, visitors loved it, they would repetitively look between the digital and physical versions on a self directed journey of discovery. AND always looking up and NOT
down.

19. We made the show, ten works in total.
ReBlink, looking back at the past with a present day lens, each work with their own commentary that was extensively based on research on the paintings and the
original artists, all with the consultation of the wonderful AGO staff.
I am going to show you a little teaser, you can see the longer video on the impossible things web site.

21. Engaging Visitors
One exhibition +
10 artworks

22. By the Numbers
Exhibition Dates:
July 6, 2017–April 8, 2018
Downloads:
20,000+
Activations:
200,000+

23. Visitors’ reactions were very positive

24. 51% used their own
devices and in-gallery
iPads

25. Over 84% felt engaged
with artworks they
would have usually
walked past

26. “Amazing. The interaction with the
viewer and the painting: it made it
feel alive, like you could go into the
painting. It made it relatable to me.”
(F, 30s)

27. 78% enjoyed the use of technology
74% had never used AR in a museum

28. “Freakin’ amazing and mind blowing, totally worth
the road trip.”
(F, 40s)
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
(F, 60s)

29. Visitors spent time
with the artworks
49% spent 5 to 9 mins
27% spent 10 to 14 mins
12 % spent 15+ mins
Average dwell time in other permanent collection galleries: 4.4 minutes, so REBLINK effectively DOUBLED visitors’ dwell time.

30. Visitors connected with the ideas

31.
“REBLINK is an interactive social
commentary. It is using technology
to critique our absorption with
technology”
(M, 30s)
"Taking old art and re-
contextualizing it in a modern
context for younger generations.
It's a form of art within this
traditional art.”
(F, 40s)

32. “I took all 200 of our students
to the AGO specifically for your
exhibit. They loved it. I’ve
never seen a group of students
more interested in art and the
social commentary on your
modern twist. It was
wonderful.”
Stav Bosotas, teacher at J B
Tyrrell Senior Public School
It engaged museum goers well beyond the original target. Yes, millennials loved it. But so did much younger audiences. Teachers told us they have
never seen anything make their students more interested in art than ReBlink.

33. Key Learnings
• More is more
• Message in the medium
• The physical, the human
Designing for People: Pragmatic learnings about design, invitation to participate

34. • Participatory engagement
• Visitor-centered design
• Museums as active participants
Key Learnings
Designing for people: factors that contribute to engaging, meaningful exhibition experiences (of any kind, not just AR or digital)

35. Art Critic Valentina Tanni
“Past and present elements mingle on the screen,
pushing the visitor to reflect on what has changed
and what has remained the same… a stimulating
and ironic short circuit that communicates the art of
the past with the new generations.”
“You’ll never look at a centuries-old oil
painting the same way again”
Mark Wilson from FastCo Design
Media
Media reaction
250+ stories
1.5 million+ online video views
national & international radio & TV
Over 20 pop-up exhibitions in 5 countries

36. 20 18
Webby Award (up against snap chat and Ikea) for best use of AR

37. American Alliance of Museum Muse Award Gold (top prize)

38. Gur
“Very impressive work”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
Even Tim Cook came for a personal tour

39. The Future ?
There are so many things you can do with AR in the museum space. I wanted to show you some experiments we are working on.

40. First I want to show you a brand new prototype. We call it the Discovery lens, a highly scalable and very easily deployable tool for creating guided tours of specific parts
of a painting. It is not just for museum staff, we envisage a way of capturing the best public conversations that go on in front of art works, for real visitor participation. To
create a discovery point you simply highlight the part of the painting you want and type your text. It will then be read out with any images you choose to attach.

41. Here we see ‘Evisceration of a Roebuck’ By Cornelis de Cos and Frank Snyders

42. And here the ReBlink intervention
To Initiate the discovery lens you just shake the device….

43. We have workshopped many kinds of AR experiences for art in the gallery space, these are just two…

44. There is potential for the art gallery content to break outside of the physical constraints of it’s walls, so its art can be viewed anywhere. Imagine a whole gallery in your
pocket that you can view anywhere.
Here is a test. I hung a painting in the middle of our lab room and with a shake….
And unlike with actual paintings we can allow people to literally step inside the frame.

45. Here I place the intervention to one of its point of inspiration. The processed meat display at my local supermarket. I love how the context outside the frame influences
how we perceive the picture. It’s as if the placement is a work of art in its self.

46. And now for something completely different, but still aimed at increasing visitor engagement. This is another prototype..a robo guide designed to show kids around a
museum. Although here you will see him appear from one of our collectable business cards, you can imagine him popping out of the ground on the floor of a museum .
Jump out at key points, show you round and give you challenges.

47. Please reach out:
Shiralee Hudson Hill
shiralee.hudson@ago.ca
@ShiraleeH
Want to know
more?
Please reach out:
Alex Mayhew
alex@impossiblethings.co
@alexmayhew
www.impossiblethings.co/reblink
ReBlink Mini Pop-Up show at lunch time.