Will Augmented Reality mean I need a new bra?

Last night at Cove Park, one of our Jerwood Catalyst residents, Hannah Rudman, gave a talk about the unstoppable rise of technology and what it means for artists and arts organisations. We may all think we’re pretty with it since we’re wasting time with such ease on Facebook, but actually Facebook is pretty much for oldies anyway: 65% of its users are over 25. What’s coming – what in fact is already here if you are under 25 – is a whole change in mindset. Convenience, newness, and a term I want to use as often as possible: ‘Augmented Reality’ are the priorities of the younger generation, so much so that smart phones – the best purveyors of augmentation – are about to overtake sales of laptops.

What is Augmented Reality? Pretty soon – probably in about 20 minutes or so – you’ll be able to point your smart phone at say Oxford Street, or in my case the zig-zags in front of the corner shop, and your phone will superimpose on the image extra stuff that’s of interest. In the case of Oxford Street you might get an image from history, the Suffragettes say, demonstrating outside what is now TopShop. Or an arrow telling you where the nearest pub is, or something to tell you there’s a lunch deal at the restaurant round the corner. In my case… well the augmentation might be an arrow pointing to the ferry with the ferry times and probably a targeted public information message: ARE YOU STILL HERE CLARK? WE DON’T LIKE YOU AND THERE’S A FERRY LEAVING IN 5!

The National Theatre of Scotland recently decided to experiment with the immediacy of new technology: over a 24 hour period anyone in Scotland could perform a 5-minute play live, and these were captured and beamed out live. Selections were made on the basis of a submitted idea, and then quite simply your play was broadcast wherever you were: your sitting room, a mountain, a church hall. Some of these pieces have on gone on to viral fame on the internet: what it showed was that if you combined good production values and attention to the process of theatre with the sheer, raw immediacy of live broadcast you could engineer something truly inclusive and exciting. You can see some of the pieces by clicking here.

It seems to me it’s writers, and perhaps most of all poets, who stand to lose or gain the most from our new reality. On the one hand with words considered simply packets of information, what value can be held by words arranged in a particular order by a writer? On the other hand, in a world where immediacy, focused truth and emotional or intellectual ‘extras’ are the objects of desire, poets may find a special place. One thing I find very exciting is the irrepressible drive to democracy that technology and social media are bringing. Organisations and governments can’t keep secrets anymore, people can group and protest without cluttering up the streets; and ideas and oratory, the mainstays of poetry seem to have a revitalised role.

So to conclude… when our reality gets augmented, will our friends notice? Or will they just say we seem to be looking very well? Maybe I should get cracking on my new business idea: the reality-bra shop. It’ll go down well there next to the butchers.

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