Artist Stages an Unauthorized Performance Inside MoMA Using Augmented Reality

Performance-based artist Adam H. Weinert manages to sneak a guerrilla performance into MoMA by way of augmented reality.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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What do you do when the Museum of Modern Art refuses to put on works by your favorite artist? You go ahead and display the works yourself. At least that's what performance-based artist Adam H. Weinert did. 

The artist created an app that utilizes augmented reality technology to challenge the rules of what does and doesn't belong inside a museum. When users who download his Dance-Tech Augmented Reality app (available for iOS or Android devices) stroll through permanent fixtures inside MoMA, the app will activate and stage a modern choreographic performance. Ghostly dancers will pirouette and prance about the space as if they were truly inside the museum.

“I spent my research fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow dancing in the studios they built, reconstructing the movement from books, photographs, video and rumor," Weinert writes on his website. "It felt at times as if I were dancing with ghosts. I wanted to recreate that experience for the viewer."

While the performance is very much Weinert's own work, the artist is also paying homage to the legendary choreographer Ted Shawn, who MoMA dismissed decades ago. “Shawn made a gift of his works to MoMA in the 1940’s, but the museum later gave away these materials to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts,” Weinert explained. If MoMA had regarded Shawn's performances as works of art, the museum would not have been allowed to re-distribute the works since MoMA cannot sell or give out the works of a living artist.

Going up against MoMA is a pretty bold and commendable move on Weinert's part. Dude deserves rounds for his ingenuity and audacity.

[via PSFK]

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