Street-ARt. Communication of Street Art Works Through Augmented Reality

Flaminia Cavallari; Elena Ippoliti; Alessandra Meschini; Michele Russo

doi:10.48619/indigo.v0i0.715

Flaminia Cavallari Freelancer
Elena Ippoliti Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome
Alessandra Meschini Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, 40133 Rome, Italy
Michele Russo Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, 40133 Rome, Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.48619/indigo.v0i0.715

Keywords: Anna Magnani, art impermanence, augmented reality, feature recognition, marker tracking, Rome

Abstract

Street art is a growing global phenomenon. The frequent appearance of works, projects and events reveals its increasing social and cultural role worldwide. Unfortunately, Street art creations are often hardly visible in urban areas. Besides, few national and international databases collect the characteristics of these artworks. The chance of digitising artworks represents a way to gain these cultural paths on the urban areas, providing an additional tool to understand and interpret it, connecting with other creations in the same area, freezing their memory, and mapping its change over time. Street art is characterised by aspects that make it unique in the artistic panorama. The contents’ democratisation and the work’s physical decay are two pillars. Any digitisation and communication project should consider them carefully, proposing a knowledge model respectful of the artwork. Augmented Reality (AR) is a representation tool that achieves that delicate balance between the real and the digital, enhancing both specificities. The chance of connecting the artwork with descriptive and multimedia content can significantly improve its visibility, enhancing its presence in the urban context. AR can also fill this information gap in the artwork, providing a stimulus for multigenerational reading that brings different audiences to Street art, integrating with existing platforms and proposing new cultural paths. The authors** start with artwork digitisation, showing experimental data about the connection between image deterioration and image AR recognition. Besides, they show some possible applications in Rome through a critical domain analysis, opening some future multifaceted scenarios.

Author Biographies

Flaminia Cavallari, Freelancer

Flaminia Cavallari (°1988, Rome) graduated in Visual Arts (Iuav, Venice 2011), Product and Service Design (La Sapienza, Rome 2022). Since 2014 she has been working as a freelance computer graphics artist, collaborating with studios (Yoomee technologies – Bologna) to create 3D content for Augmented Reality apps (main Customers: Renault, Expo Milano 2015). Between 2015 and 2016, she worked on the “Colors of Alwani” project, a documentary / artistic program broadcast on Abu Dhabi TV. The total immersion of the presenter in a 3D scene composed of works of art reproduced in computer graphics is highlighted in the show. Currently, she is employed as a motion graphic designer for Publicis Sapient. https://www.linkedin.com/in/flaminiacavallari; https://flaminiacav.artstation.com.

Elena Ippoliti, Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome

Elena Ippoliti (°1962), Architect (1989), PhD (1995), is a Full Professor at Sapienza University of Rome and director of the Master in “Communication of cultural heritage”. She teaches Architecture and Design courses and also in the PhD programme of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture. In recent years, Elena has oriented her research towards critical reflection and experimental investigation on the use of digital technologies to enhance cultural heritage. In particular, she has dealt with the definition of visual languages for the knowledge, communication and use of cultural heritage values. Her academic profile can be found at: https://research.uniroma1.it

Alessandra Meschini, Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, 40133 Rome, Italy

Alessandra Meschini (°1966), Architect (1993), PhD (1998), is an Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome. She currently teaches in Architecture courses, but she also taught in Design courses. She has been working on many representation, survey and documentation topics consistent with the development of digital technologies and the main issues of architectural and urban heritage sites. In recent years she has oriented her research towards Digital Media, communication and applications for the promotion, enhancement and enjoyment of Cultural Heritage. Her research output can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alessandra-Meschini.

Michele Russo, Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, 40133 Rome, Italy

Michele Russo (°1977) is an Associate Professor in Representation at the Sapienza University of Rome. He received his Master’s degree in Architecture from Ferrara University and PhD degrees from Politecnico di Milano in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Since 2008, Michele has been working on many 3D acquisition, modelling and data visualisation topics at Politecnico di Milano and Sapienza, when he moved in 2016. He’s actually involved in much research about 3D imaging, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence applied to the cultural heritage, architecture, and design domains. His research output can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michele-Russo-5.