Augmented reality exhibition on now at Godfrey Dean Art Gallery

YORKTON – A new exhibition at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery mixes traditional and digital art.

"The exhibition is Andrei Feheregyhazi," said Kelly Litzenberger, Manager at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery, adding, "he's been developing these augmented reality art projects in Blender," which is a 3D graphics software toolset, according to Wikipedia.  

The 'New Bernard Style' exhibition uses stenciled spray-painted images on cardboard to trigger the augmented reality which can be viewed through a smart phone or tablet.

"Augmented reality is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information," read the article on augmented reality from Wikipedia.

"Emerging artist, animator, and digital creator Andrei Feheregyhazi has created four immersive scenes that you can explore with a smart phone or tablet. Follow the instructions—download the app or borrow the gallery’s tablet—and walk through the exhibition to see Bernard the Bird and his friend the walking egg on their epic journey," read an excerpt from the GDAG's article on the exhibit.

"People are free to go to our website and find the information to download [Bernard AR] and then be prepared to set yourself up when you come to the gallery," said Litzenberger, adding, "or we do have a tablet on hand that people can borrow at any time – they can experience the full augmented reality aspects of the exhibition," said Litzenberger.  

"We've got a lot of people coming through because it's such a different exhibition than what we traditionally have," said Litzenberger.

"We've been programming more interactive exhibitions throughout the summer because we do see a lot of tourists – a lot of people from not only our community, but touring across Canada now that people are travelling a bit more," said Litzenberger.

"Once you bring the tablet and the augmented reality into play it becomes a whole new world for this exhibition," said Litzenberger, adding, "it's taking what a lot of people have known and experienced and taking it to this new environment which is still quite new in many aspects."

The exhibition runs until August 31 and the applications are available to download on Google Play and the Apple App Store.