Barcelona’s Hidden Artists –
While visiting Barcelona, I became fascinated with the vast swathes of graffiti covered walls. It felt as if collectively everyone had given up on cleaning the walls. Indeed, it felt as if the walls themselves had become works of art. In stark contrast I also noted the pristine internal walls of the MACBA (One of Barcelona’s contemporary art museums).
I was so ‘taken with’ the beautiful light inside of the MACBA that I decided to photograph it. I also photographed many graffiti laden walls across Barcelona. There really was a such a stark contrast between the pristine and the messy that I began to wonder what the MACBA would look like if it was plastered in graffiti?
The internal walls of the MACBA were so beautifully clean that I felt an irresistible urge to ‘plaster’ them. The vibrant colours and designs found externally on the Streets of Barcelona seemed a logical choice.
Unfortunately, my dream of taking spray paints to the MACBA walls was pretty much out of the question. However, I did have access to Photoshop, Ai and augmented reality.
As a direct result of my thinking I managed to self publish 3 small art books. Please click on the live link at the top of each image in order to view a .PDF of each full book. QR codes and instructions follow that unlock a series of augmented reality experiences. Videos are also included so that the augmented reality experiences can still be viewed in the event of a software failure.
The following QR code will give access to Halo AR software that should unlock the ‘Beautiful Light’ book’s alternative reality. Please scan the QR code and wait a little while for the experience to load. Then scan some of the pages of the book to see what is contained there. Alternatively, in the event of a software failure please see the video directly beneath the QR code that shows what should be happening.
NB: It is possible that Android users will be taken directly to the Google Play Store. There’s no need to download the app simply click on the ‘Try Now’ button to bring up the scanner and then scan the images of the book.
QR Code for Beautiful Light – MACBA – Barcelona
Video Showing the Augmented Reality Experience
The video below shows what should happen if everything works properly and is aimed at anyone having difficulty accessing the augmented reality experiences via the QR code above.
Important Information
There is no single QR code for MACBA Metamorphosis, because this book was used as an experimental test bed to trial a variety of different augmented reality software and techniques. However if you visit the 21 Day Challenge Outcomes blogpost then you will be able to try out a variety of QR codes pertaining to the book. You can also see videos of the augmented reality experiences in action. The 21 Day Challenge Outcomes blogpost comes highly recommended as there is a plethora of information housed there, including some interesting animations and designs.
The Final Book in the Series
Urban Alchemy: An Evolution of Barcelona’s Graffiti is the third and final book in the series. This book contains snippets of original graffiti photos taken while K was in Barcelona. These snippets have been use to make alternative designs and some of these have been re-imagined by AI. The difference with this book is that all of the music hidden inside the covers of this book is AI generated. Please see below for a QR code that should grant access to the augmented reality experiences hidden inside.
I have included a video below so that the augmented reality experiences can still be viewed in the event of a loading failure. Once again, please wait a while to allow the software to load.
NB: It is possible that Android users will be taken directly to the Google Play Store. There’s no need to download the app simply click on the ‘Try Now’ button to bring up the scanner and then scan the images of the book.
