The role of the artist in evolving AR as a new medium

In 1988, John Pearson wrote about the computer being appropriated by artists, offering “new means for expressing their ideas” [1]. Pearson notes, however, that historically, new technologies “were not developed by the artistic community for artistic purposes, but by science and industry to serve the pragmatic or utilitarian needs of society [2]. It is then up to the artist to be a “colonizer” and to “exploit” these new technologies for their own purposes, as Roger Malina suggests [3]. It is the role of the artist then to act as a pioneer, pushing forward a new aesthetic that exploits the unique materials of the novel technology. To heed the opportunities afforded by a new medium, this involves, as Malina notes, “understanding the specific capabilities [...] and creating art forms that exploit these” [4]. This paper will examine the role of the artist in working with the emerging technology of Augmented Reality (AR), including a discussion of my creative process as an artist and PhD researcher working with AR.