Clever augmented reality applications are becoming the natural byproducts of our modern computers--computers that are tiny, have eyes and other location-aware sensors, and are able to place a synthetic layer of information on our view of the world around us.
The latest is this "invisible" block of solid concrete dreamed up by artists Daniel Franke and Markus Kison. So how does it work?
When a viewer approaches the fixed concrete block mounted at an angle on a pedestal in the middle of a gallery, a rotating cameras on top picks up his/her face and calculates the viewer's exact line of sight. Custom software (written with the visually-oriented openFrameworks platform) then computes the exact angle and composition of the scene being blocked by the cube and projects it onto the face of the concrete. So, if you're aligned properly, you see right "through" the block at the uninterrupted forms of the chair and bench on the other side.
The project is called "Durchsehen, Exp. 01 (augmented perspective)" and was displayed at a gallery in Berlin this year.
Durchsehen Exp. 01 (Docu) from Daniel Franke on Vimeo.
