PUBLIC ART AR PLATFORM
Arnau
Gallery
Preserving street art through augmented reality
Services // IMMERSIVE // AUGMENTED REALITY
Challenge
Street art is temporary by nature. Murals get painted over, buildings get demolished, and iconic artworks disappear.
The Arnau Theatre in Barcelona, a historic venue currently being rehabilitated, was home to a celebrated street art wall. During the building’s adaptation, the wall was demolished, taking years of celebrated murals with it.
How do you preserve the heritage of street art when the physical walls no longer exist? And how do you create a tool that helps street artists everywhere document and share their work before it’s gone?
Opportunity
To create a platform that uses augmented reality to keep street art alive, even after the physical work has disappeared.
We could also build tools that help artists document and share their work before it’s painted over or demolished. And develop AR features that assist in the creative process itself, letting artists map out murals on walls before they pick up a spray can.
The goal was to turn temporary art into a permanent archive, while giving street artists worldwide a new creative tool.
Preserving the Arnau Gallery legacy
In collaboration with Street Art Barcelona, we created the first version of the Arnau Gallery app, an augmented reality experience that lets people see the history of murals created for the iconic Arnau Gallery wall on Avenida Parallel in Barcelona.
Curated by Antoine Careil, the wall featured renowned street artists from around the world, with new site-specific murals created every two months. Works by duos like MORCKY & CHAZ, SLOMO & TWEEMUIZEN, and OREO & EKOSAURIO created unique collaborations between major names in street art.
Users could point their phone at the wall and scroll through the murals in chronological order, with supporting information about the works and links to artists’ portfolios. When not in Barcelona, users could teleport the famous wall onto any surface near them.
When the Arnau Theatre was demolished, the app became the only way to experience these works.
Building a global platform
We’re now developing a standalone platform for street artists worldwide. The new app will allow artists to upload their own works, attach them to physical locations, and preserve them in AR before they’re painted over or demolished.
Planned features include:
- Artist-driven content uploads
- Community-selected wall locations
- AR creation tools to help artists map out work on walls before painting
- A comprehensive global street art archive
Our goal is to create the world’s most complete record of urban art, maintained by the artists and communities who create it.
Impact
Preserved 20+ murals
from international artists
Created a model
for AR-based art preservation
Renowned street art collaborations
work featured
Now evolving
into a global platform for street artists
Team
Mike van der Noord
Creative direction, AR development, platform architecture
Antoine Careil
Curation (original Arnau Gallery wall)
Street Art Barcelona
Collaboration partner
Get Involved
If you’re a street artist or street art organization interested in being part of the platform, get in touch.
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