A group of artists in Japan have done something extraordinary. They have created a mobile app that can breathe new life into objects, beginning with a series of celebrated masterpieces by Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Vermeer, and Hokusai. When you look at these paintings using your mobile camera and the ARART (Augmented Reality Art) app, you’ll find they move convincingly and with the kind of added detail you’d expect from a figment of your own imagination.
Kei Shiratori, Takeshi Mukai, and Bak Younghyo originally released the app as part of a physical gallery exhibition in Japan a few months ago, but have now chosen to launch it internationally for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. You can try it out with copies of the paintings on their website here.
ARART will not work on just any object, the software has to be trained to recognize specific items and loaded with pre-made animations to bring them to life. This first version of the app will only work on the four chosen masterpiece paintings, but as their demonstration video shows, it can potentially be used with book illustrations, vinyl records, music CDs, and original works of art.
As they partner with new artists and organizations, and gain permission for use with books and albums, you can expect them to update the app with new content and experiences. The intent here is to create new opportunities for artistic expression, so expect their future updates to be geared more towards galleries and museums than product tie-ins.
