AR vs Last Chinatown

AR-vos is an augmented reality app that enables you to view image trigger based AR artworks like Tamiko Thiel's "Eisai" or geolocative works like "Reign of Gold." "Eisai" is an image-trigger artwork that can be viewed anywhere in the world to meditate on the monk Eisai who brought Zen to Japan. It was developed for the Kennin-ji Zen Temple in Kyoto, as part of the "Art Innovation" Exhibition and Symposium. http://art.gsais.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index-en.html To use "Eisai," you first need to download the trigger image http://www.ar-vos.com/zen.jpg, either print the image or look at it on a screen. Start the app and bring the trigger image into the "Fit the image you're scanning" frame. Once the app detects the image, the animation of Eisai will emerge. "Reign of Gold" is a geolocative AR work that can be viewed anywhere around the world. Simply select the layer, it will surround you with an animated rain of gold coins.

“Watermarks of the Last Chinatown” is an interactive public memorial in the form of a site-specific augmented reality experience that speaks to the rich narrative landscape of Santa Cruz, California, through the lens of historical erasure with a focus on its last Chinatown. The work is a collaboration between Huy Truong, Susana Ruiz, and Karen Tei Yamashita. It includes interviews with community members, historical photographs, virtual recreations, and a performative interpretation of an original story by Yamashita. The work incorporates documentary, holographic film, and gameplay and is experienced on mobile devices at historically important sites in downtown Santa Cruz to render visible the lives, legacies, and labors of those who lived there.