September 24, 2018 7:54 PM
Artist Trevor Jones will showcase crypto-themed, augmented reality artwork at the Dundas Street Gallery in Scotland’s capital.
Art is no stranger to augmented reality (AR), the technology that integrates computer-generated information and images into real-world environments. At New York's Museum of Modern Art[1], for example, some artists have turned the museum's Jackson Pollock gallery into a "personal augmented reality playground," where they can virtually remix or replace the paintings using an app. In recent news[2], at the Annual Bing Agency Awards event on Thursday, September 20, an artist used the Bing search application programming interface to create virtual "sculptures" from search queries submitted by guests.
This AR trend has trickled into the cryptospace, with one artist, Trevor Jones, creating an array of blockchain-inspired AR paintings. His forthcoming solo exhibition, Disruption: The Art of Blockchain[3], will showcase paintings of various figures and themes relevant to the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency, such as John McAfee[4], Coinbase[5] CEO Brian Armstrong[6], Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin[7], a bull and a bear (to represent the different states of the crypto market), and a wave (to signify those "riding the crypto wave").
The exhibition will run from October 22-26 at Edinburgh's Dundas Street Gallery, where visitors can use a smartphone app to transform the artwork into videos and educational content about blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
To accompany his upcoming show, Jones has co-opted the capital's National Portrait Gallery, virtually transforming 28 historical portrait paintings into prominent blockchain figures, such as Elizabeth Stark[8] of Lightning Labs[9] and the Winklevoss twins[10]. In explaining his AR takeover, he said:
"After researching the world of cryptocurrency
