Computing en plein air

Abstract

Recent advancements in augmented reality (AR) technology have begun to position the medium for widespread adoption and cultural impact. But these ongoing technical victories give way to pressing challenges in the area of content creation. As the page differs from the screen, so too do the hybrid design spaces of AR differ from the virtual reality of the desktop. Caught in the transition from the personal computing era to the ubiquitous computing paradigm, multimedia producers in many fields will need to adapt to AR platforms. To which traditions, then, might we turn for aesthetic models? This article aims to incite an aesthetic transference between French Impressionist painting and AR media practices, while acknowledging the influences of other avant-garde legacies. I draw upon a transdisciplinary matrix of scholarship in media theory and visual culture in order to emphasize the relevance of Impressionism as an art historical precedent for understanding contemporary AR projects, and to suggest how Impressionist principles of composition might inform AR media aesthetics.