“Augmented Abstraction” by Yane Bakreski

Exhibiting Artist(s):

• Yane Bakreski

The subject of the installation is the inter-spatiality in art. The key challenge is to detach color (sensations) from form (representation) and make the creative process aboveboard i.e. to deal openly with the audience. “Augmented Abstraction” deals with the creation of a simple Augmented Reality (AR) system designed to create an immersive environment simulated by a computer. Consisting of a camera, computational unit and a display, the system is run on a tablet PC using a built-in camera. By using marker-based tracking, it captures the marker, which is a digitally painted nude depicted in a mode of everyday visibility, displayed on a large TV screen. The augmentation is in 3D, consisting of multiple parallel offset planes (and parallel to the marker), holding the Photoshop layers i.e. different abstract color patches, color patterns, brushstrokes etc. produced during the  painting process, thus creating complex 3D abstract permutations. By using the AR technology, the final result is the chance to observe simultaneously the real world, represented in the mode of everyday visibility, and the virtual elements which exemplify the idea or the abstract code.

 University of KwaZulu-Natal