Inglewood home of limited augmented reality art exhibition

Augmented reality art exhibit lights up Inglewood An art exhibition with a twist is moving into Inglewood as part of the Chinook Blast winter festival. Kevin Fleming reports.

Calgary — Local artists will be bringing their works to augmented reality in the windows of businesses in Inglewood during a limited six-week exhibition.

Northern Reflections is four years running and is an augmented reality exhibition that will feature 11 teams of artists celebrating the power that music, art and business have.

It will run from Jan. 21 through Feb 25.

“It brings business, it brings activation to a neighborhood, this is super COVID safe and it’s also making people think maybe what the future of art is and what that means in terms of participation and engagement,” said Maud Collective creative festival producer, Kevin Jesuino.

Rebecca O’Brien, executive director of the Inglewood Business Improvement Area (BIA) was excited to bring this exhibit to the Inglewood community.

“I was like yes, this makes total sense because one of the main roles of the BIA is to bring vibrancy to the main street which is very challenging during a pandemic,” said O’Brien.

The exhibit will showcase the works of painters, animators and there will be murals paired with music produced by local and international entertainers.

“People can walk up and down the street, check out the murals, see the magic of the augmented reality but at the same time listen to this music that’s made by local musicians,” Jesuino said.

This is the first time the art will all be held within the one community for viewing.

“You can do a walk and see all 10, all 11 murals in one go, within 40 minutes you can see them all,” said Jesuino.

Uii Savage, an emerging artist in Calgary did the animating art for the exhibition.

(Art by Jessica Semenoff)

“I’m really pleasantly happy with it, this is my first-time being part of the festival, so I am someone who works alone, I don’t really work collaboratively but this was a really great experience to work with other people,” Savage said.

Savage created 3D hands that reach out from the branches of the mural and coming together to hold each other which brings attention to the importance of human contact and how it’s missed during the pandemic.

Inglewood resident Dawn Warner was highly impressed by the artistry on display.

“It was just amazing, I’ve never seen anything like that in a picture in my life, like a bunch of hands were moving coming in to the picture, it was really cool,” said Warner.

Participants can download the free Augle app onto their phones to get involved with the interactive element of the exhibit.

The Northern Reflections exhibition is a part of a large winter art festival, Chinook Blast, taking place throughout the city from Feb. 11-28.

With files from Ty Rothermal