Art projects in public spaces are often temporary interventions. Documentation rarely takes place or is not meaningful enough to allow the works to be experienced retrospectively in their site-specificity. One consequence of this is that resource-intensive art projects in public spaces fall into oblivion and the city as a social exhibition and meeting space is only partially recognised.

This is precisely where the AR-A pilot study comes in: the project is investigating how a digital archive can be created that allows artistic works to be experienced again at their respective urban locations using augmented reality (AR). The AR-A project aims to strengthen the urban space as an attractive, dialogue-based exhibition area.

At the centre of the project is the development of a prototype AR system for Düsseldorf, which is also designed as a pilot study with relevance for the whole of NRW. Case studies will be used to determine the requirements profile for an AR platform from an archival, artistic and recipient-related perspective.

Three problems will be addressed:

1. Focus on archival work: Under what conditions can ephemeral art events be transferred into an AR experience and remain technically permanently accessible?
2. Focus on mediation: To what extent is AR technology suitable for promoting the experience of both vanished and newly produced art in public spaces and designing it in a target group-orientated way?
3. Focus on production: How can artists be supported when they use AR technology to produce art for public spaces and intend to make it accessible in the long term?

The research project aims to preserve the presence of art in public space by ensuring that it can at least be found digitally. The AR blending of physical urban space and digitally reworked artistic intervention creates an intensive hybrid space of perception. The AR-A project will make an application-orientated contribution to the retrospective and sustainable digital visibility of art projects in public space and to their archiving.