Old City, New Tricks: Interactive Art in Public Space
Salvador “Salvi” Iglesias let me in Underground Atlanta after I spotted his bright bleach blonde curls poking out from the side door. He welcomed me with a shy smile and a wave. The underground air felt surprisingly thick and warm in the absence of people — the venue was closed for the day. Colorful yet empty studios of various artists caught my eye.
Stepping into the building felt like I’d time traveled. The space is literally the old streets of Atlanta, now buried underneath the new streets. Markers reading things like, “Atlanta National Bank c. 1890” and “Planters Hotel c. 1853” lined the edges of the brick walls in the places where they used to slowly warm in the afternoon sun. Gas street lamps stood underneath an arched ceiling. Streets that once carried horses, buggies and automobiles now echoed with our footsteps as Iglesias showed me around.
Iglesias and I entered a studio space with a bright neon sign reading “Future Artists, Artist’s Future.” This is the location of the Public Art Futures Lab created by Fulton County Arts and Culture.
The Public Art Futures Lab is a new program exploring the connection between technology and art in Fulton County, and it is one of the only art and technology residencies sponsored by a governmental entity in the U.S. Fulton County Arts and Culture partnered with Underground Atlanta to provide studio and exhibition space for their three artists in residence. Microsoft, MARTA Artbound and Arts & Entertainment Atlanta (A&E Atlanta) each sponsored one of the three residencies.
“With the Public Art Futures Lab project, this is an opportunity for us to be part of a new dynamic creative process,” Arts and Culture Director David Manuel said. “The lab is where public art and technology intersect, and we’re excited to be on the frontline of that initiative, especially when it comes to being a government entity.”
Iglesias received the A&E Atlanta residency. He initially discovered the opportunity through Instagram, where he does most of his networking. Through this residency, he will be exploring the use of augmented reality (AR) to improve digital sign engagement downtown.
On the day that I visited Iglesias’ studio space, the weathered concrete walls with crumbling pieces of drywall were bare, aside from a sign with polaroid pictures from the Future Project’s opening night. Projectors lined the left wall, and painted white rectangles on the opposite wall denoted where the projections would land. His computer setup rested on a raised platform towards the back of the room, and cubby system housed 21 Oculus headsets. Iglesias showed me some of his works in progress. He was preparing for his inaugural art exhibit later that week.
Iglesias slowly built his digital and artistic talents since he was 11 years old. His uncle introduced him to AR.
“It was really cool to be able to see stuff I was making on my computer in real life,” Iglesias said.
Public Art Manager Alex Frankcombe was a key figure in implementing the Futures Lab that has allowed Iglesias to explore AR on a deeper level. Frankcombe said that the lab is meant to provide access to local artists and to show how creatives can implement big change through art.
“The goal of the Futures Lab is to address the barriers that exist within the arts community around utilizing and understanding technology, whether it’s the equipment or the access to knowledge — because a lot of it is specialized,” Frankcombe said.
Manuel said that a big initiative of this program was partnering with other organizations to provide the expensive technology required for AR and digital art. Equipment for this kind of art can cost thousands of dollars, which prevents many artists from being able to even pursue that medium.
“At the end of the day, that’s what it’s really about: giving a platform for our artists to create,” Manuel said.
Frankcombe said that he will soon finalize Iglesias’ exact plan moving forward. He said that A&E Atlanta has several billboards downtown, and Iglesias will create some sort of AR experience with the billboards.
“Right now, I’m trying to figure out how I can make it more about the city rather than me,” Iglesias said about his plans for the residency. “[Fulton County Arts and Culture] is giving me a lot of creative freedom with it… My plan is to bring in other artists and basically use the city as a whole as a museum for artists that aren’t well known that I think deserve that spotlight. My job will be getting their art on the streets and making it interactive.”
The two other artists in residence are Max Woo and Eddie Farr. Each resident gets 14 weeks in the Underground Atlanta studio space with a four week overlap from one artist’s time to another.
Woo, the recipient of the MARTA Artbound residency, will create a gamified experience of the MARTA bus system to encourage ridership. Farr, another A&E Atlanta resident, will use Bluetooth data to track traffic and pedestrian activity throughout the city. He will then use that data to create real-time digital artwork.
The goal for all of the residencies is to show how artists can tackle real world issues with creative solutions. Frankcombe said that he also hopes the program promotes the value in interactive digital art and how it can influence public space.
“I think [AR] presents some interesting ways of people engaging in physical space and digital space at the same time,” Frankcombe said. “It definitely allows for more meaningful interactions.”
An early example of interactive art influencing public space is Pokémon GO. Released in 2016, this mobile game allowed users to search and catch Pokémon characters. Users could explore their physical space while seeing digital depictions of the Pokémon on their phone screens. The game gathered 260 million downloads in its first year.
Atlanta is no stranger to interactive art. Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is a traveling digital art experience that projects Van Gogh’s most compelling works up to two stories high. The experience also includes a virtual reality tour through a day in the life of the artist.
The creator of the show, Mario Iacampo, said in an interview with What Now Atlanta, “We have been overwhelmed by the positive response to Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience in the Atlanta market.”
Growing exponentially as a Covid-safe activity, the immersive experience reported 325,000 visitors. Frankcombe said that a similar reception would be a dream for the Futures Lab.
“I kind of want [the Futures Lab] to be seen as a resource for artists, and I would love for artists to be trying to bang down our doors to get in and utilize the space,” Frankcombe said. “The most exciting part of the project that I can think of would be seeing the artists that come through our space sort of thrive once they’ve completed, whether that’s attending classes or the artist in residency program, or the emerging art and tech education stipend recipients.”
After my initial tour of the studio space, I revisited for Iglesias’s first art exhibit May 13. Music pumped through the room, and the once-barren walls were now glowing, alive with his art. On the left screen, slides of his digital work rotated with painterly splashes of pinks, blues and peaches. On the right, Iglesias’ digital world came to life. An abstract setting with a giant chess board, humanoid structures and a virtual gallery lit up the space. The avatar walking on the screen favored Iglesias.
“This is beautiful,” one woman said as she ventured through the room with an Oculus headset. Her mouth fell slightly ajar as she rotated her body away from the screen and towards the blank wall behind her, completely mesmerized by the digital world inside her headset. Iglesias smiled at her as he walked over to greet me.
“Usually, it’s just me in this world,” Iglesias said while looking at the gray-hoodie-wearing figure on the screen. “It’s kind of cool seeing other people walk around.”
The energy in the gallery was electric, literally. I watched Iglesias’ innovative art transform the crumbling gray interior, an echo of the past, into a technicolor cocoon that widened eyes and slowed down passerby, a glimpse of the future.
