Sacred Grounds vs WAVA

Sacred Grounds is an augmented reality installation by the art collective Refrakt. You need the target lightbox in order to start the experience Currently on display at: Noorderlicht Biennale, Neimeyer Factory Groningen, 12.07.–07.09.2025 The social, economic, and environmental consequences of the production of media technologies are mostly invisible in our everyday lives, yet immense. Refrakt’s augmented reality installation brings the analog effects of our digital actions into focus and encourages a critical examination of our behaviour. The installation consists of 3D models of ores which contain the most common minerals used in digital devices. The digital, free floating objects react to the user's proximity, touch or acoustic signal.

WAVA is an innovative nonprofit platform that reimagines public spaces through augmented reality, making site-specific artworks accessible worldwide through augmented reality. What's on: Apparitions with the 36th Bienal de São Paulo With works by: Maxwell Alexandre, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Michele Ciacciofera, Cevdet Erek, Theo Eshetu, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Ruth Ige, Hamedine Kane, Andrew Roberts, Juliana dos Santos, Ming Smith, Camille Turner, Cici Wu with Yuan Yuan, Vilanismo. WAVA and the 36th Bienal de São Paulo launch a first-of-its-kind global augmented exhibition—bringing the Bienal’s artworks to site-specific locations worldwide, such as Auckland, Badagry, Beijing, Brasilia, Kinshasa, Hong Kong, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Tijuana/San Diego (on the border), and across São Paulo. Previous exhibitions around Frankfurt am Main are still on view, including works by Yael Bartana, Raafat Hattab, Muhammad Toukhy, Hinda Weiss, Morehshin Allahyari, Tony Cokes, Flaka Haliti, Tamiko Thiel and /p, Les Trucs, Tanya V. Abelson, Florian Adolph, Alex Chalmers, Shaun Motsi, and Kristin Reiman. Stay tuned. There’s always more to come! — Today, every public space is simultaneously an augmented space. Virtual data layering expands the physical space and opens new realms of possibilities. We wish to make this in-between space accessible for artistic interventions by anchoring virtual artworks to specific locations, channelling the ephemeral presence of an interruption or a glitch. Fostering site-specificity and thinking with curatorial dispositions, WAVA aspires to open up the augmented layer to the public and artists alike, serving as a nomadic framework for virtual and physical communal gatherings across different cities and places.