The future is now: Virtual Reality, AR and AI in media art

With the progress and developments in science and technology, virtual reality technology aroused people's interest as a modern high-tech concept.

It is increasingly penetrating all areas of human life and playing an ever more significant role. In our current era, characterized by the rapid development of digital media technologies and a diverse media spectrum, virtual reality technology, with its three-dimensional graphics creation , multisensory interaction techniques and highly developed high-resolution displays, realistic virtual 3D environments.

A special interactive device is required to enter these virtual worlds. This technology is increasingly used in various important areas of contemporary digital media design and thus represents a pioneering source of information.

In this article, we would like to introduce various digital media related to Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to highlight the progress in the development of technologies for creating virtual realities.

The use of virtual reality technology in digital media art is proving extremely practical for artists and is leading to a steady increase in creative forms of expression.

The use of these groundbreaking technologies – including artificial intelligence (AI) – can make a valuable contribution to the creation of high-quality digital art and hopefully stimulate and inspire both artists and readers alike.

Digital Art of Tomorrow: How AR and AI are Expanding Our Creative Boundaries

Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are expanding our creative boundaries and changing the way we view art. But what does this mean for the art world?

Virtual Reality (VR) is already an important part of art, as it offers the viewer an immersive experience . VR technology allows one to dive into virtual worlds and interact with them.

AR, on the other hand, allows artists to integrate virtual objects into their real environments, thus creating new opportunities for interaction.

Mixed Reality – also Hybrid Media – represents another technology that combines both VR and AR, thus offering even more possibilities for expanding the viewing experience.

The art of tomorrow will be enriched by these technologies and will show us new ways to be creative.

We can look forward to what innovations the future will bring, because one thing is certain: AR and AI are here to stay!

Explanations of terms – VR, AR, ML and AI

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual Reality is a computer-generated reality experienced as a 360-degree virtual environment. Ideally, this freely explorable environment may also allow for interaction with virtual objects.

Furthermore, the spectrum of virtual reality also includes content that simply places the user in a virtual environment, whether in 180-degree or 360-degree dimensions. This includes, among other things, images, films, concerts, and much more.

Immersion describes the feeling of being immersed in a virtual reality. When the user of virtual reality is fully integrated into this world and its interactions, VR experiences are created with a sense of immediacy and a high degree of realism.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality (AR) refers to the experience of an environment in which the real world is enhanced by computer-generated content. This can be done, for example, using AR glasses, smartphones, or tablets , allowing users to perceive this content as part of their real environment.

In contrast, VR completely replaces the real environment with a simulated world. AR primarily uses artificial visual and auditory elements, but other sensory experiences are also possible. Unlike VR and MR, AR is not interactive, but rather a projection of digital content onto the real environment.

Machine Learning (ML)

Machine learning is an advanced digital technology based on artificial intelligence, used, among other things, to generate digital images. Special algorithms specific input data, such as training data or datasets, to automatically recognize and apply patterns.

This process generates countless variations within the recognized pattern. A vivid example of this is the generation of photorealistic facial images, which uses millions of existing photographs as a basis.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) , also known as artificial intelligence , forms the basis for imitating human intelligence. This is achieved through the creation and application of algorithms, which are integrated into a dynamic computing environment.

In other words, AI tries to make computers think and behave like humans.

There are three key components that are of great importance:

1. Computing systems
2. Data and data management
3. Advanced AI algorithms (code)

The more “human” the desired result is to be, the more data and processing power are required.

algorithm

The term algorithm is frequently used in connection with digital media, AI, AR and NFTs.

An algorithm is generally a specific method for solving a problem. It consists of individual instructions that are executed sequentially and transform input data into output data. Algorithms are crucial and indispensable in the fields of mathematics, computer science, and the digital world.

Algorithms often use computational models and statistical calculations as a basis for quickly processing large amounts of data and numbers. They can therefore be seen as a kind of evolution of traditional computers, going far beyond basic addition and subtraction to create and calculate sophisticated formulas from our everyday lives.

As a numbers enthusiast, you can use popular traditional calculators to go back to the beginning of evolution and understand how numbers influence all areas of our lives – from health to schoolwork. This also provides an understanding of the nuances of financial values ​​and statistical data. Calculation models can also be implemented in computer science. For example, a subnet mask can be calculated .

The cultural and historical roots of digital media

Digital media art is a subset of new media art . It is an art form that emerged with the development of science and technology. It is not only interactive but also utilizes network media as a means of communication.

It includes film and television animation, online games, VR, multimedia, digital music, video and interactive installations.

With the development of science and technology, the media revolution has led to the emergence of new media styles. The continuous evolution of digital media art has constantly updated the way people experience art and simultaneously transformed people's artistic aesthetics

"The production and reproduction of realities has long preoccupied art and science. With the transformation of media culture and the digitization of society, these questions are more pressing today than ever before."

argues Professor Kirsten Dickhaut , acting director of the Institute for Literary Studies (ILW) at the University of Stuttgart.

In the Stuttgart Research Center (SRF) Re2, scientists analyze theatrical techniques such as staging or choreography and their influence on the shaping of realities in contemporary media.

Interdisciplinary project teams explore the cultural and historical roots of interaction and communication in digital spaces : They investigate the conditions and patterns by which media simulate and shape realities. They also explore how users perceive the worlds created there.

Digitization is making its way into theatres and museums with holograms , 3D animations , immersive experiences and virtual tours with interactive possibilities , while digital media and digital artists are using theatre techniques and practices not only to create virtual spaces but also to communicate.

"Even in Greek and Roman theaters, people gave a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Whether on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram: this gesture is still a way to build community today."

Theatre techniques and conventions are used in video conferences, virtual reality presentations, the development of computer games, the presentation of digital art and autonomous vehicles, as well as in the interaction between humans and robots in creative production processes.

The beauty of art lies in its ability to evoke emotions and stimulate the imagination, but understanding the message behind a work can be challenging. Against this backdrop, computer scientists at the University of Luxembourg have investigated the potential of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and state-of-the-art deep learning techniques in the field of cultural heritage.

Their research aims to solve the challenge of recommending artworks in a personalized way in environments such as museums, art galleries and exhibitions, where subjective content, complex concepts and emotional reflections play a role (more on this here: “When AI recommends artworks you'll love” ).

The significance of VR, AR and AI in the modern art world

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have long been established in industry, research, and education. But how do artists engage with these new worlds? What possibilities do these technologies offer in terms of forms of expression and subject matter in a work of art?

What does the digital expansion of space mean for art? And what does it mean for the viewer and thus for the perception of art?

Relevance to the art world

The relevance of augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to the art world is undeniable. These technologies not only expand our creative boundaries but also enable new forms of interaction between users and virtual objects.

The integration of AR into the creative process of artists, in particular, offers many opportunities to expand the perception of reality and create an immersive experience. Virtual Reality (VR) is already being used successfully in art to enhance the viewing experience and immerse the viewer in a virtual world.

Companies like Playstation have already launched VR glasses that allow users to fully immerse themselves in the virtual world.

Mixed reality or hybrid reality is also becoming increasingly popular; it combines real objects with virtual elements, thus creating an even more realistic experience. According to the Heise newsletter from July 2021, there are even VR caves already – rooms where you can move around completely freely while fully immersed in the virtual world.

Overall, AR, VR and other virtual technologies offer the art world many new opportunities to expand creative expression and create an immersive experience for the viewer – whether in the field of marketing or in the creation of new worlds by artists.

Potential applications of Virtual Reality (VR) in art

Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers artists new opportunities to create an immersive viewing experience.

With VR glasses, users can immerse themselves in a virtual world and interact as if they were actually in that world.

The potential applications of VR in art are diverse – from enhancing the viewing experience to integrating virtual objects into the real world .

Immersive viewing options

Everyone can now break free from the limitations of time and space at their own discretion. No matter where you are, you can immerse yourself in your own experience, and digital media art is a combination of art design concepts and computer technology, which is to be represented through the media.

Digital media can give us a sense of a dynamic and diverse art scene. When digital multimedia art is combined with virtual reality technology, it can enhance the interactive experience between the viewer and the digital media. Users can literally feel the beauty of the art in virtual space.

The VR space, constructed using VR technology, also enriches the public experience of viewing art. With the help of virtual reality technology, the artist can utilize their imagination, allowing past scenes to be derived from exciting emotions, enabling a closer connection to the work and a deeper understanding of it.

There is also a virtual reality theater that uses this method. It is a fully immersive virtual reality system that completely surrounds the audience with multiple high-cube screens, each displaying the same content simultaneously, so that the audience is completely immersed in the world. As you view these images simultaneously on these screens, you are immersed in the virtual world of the images.

Virtual space concepts and TILT Brush VR technology for the creation of art

Virtual reality technology offers artists more flexible creative possibilities compared to traditional painting. With the improvement and advancement of virtual reality and the advancement of reality technology, many artists have begun virtual space concepts and TILT Brush VR technology , software that can be used in virtual space.

It combines the traditional art paper pen with the virtual capabilities of 3D computers. Tilt Brush is an application that stereoscopic images in a virtual space.

Tools such as headers, covers, and handheld devices are used. Artwork is thus created in virtual space according to an inner idea, using the creator's mobile or handheld device.

This painting, created with Tilt Brush VR, is also being collected by Google's world's first virtual reality art exhibition in San Francisco. This technology has brought more creativity to animation, enhanced the emotions depicted in characters and scenes, and opened up more possibilities for digital creation.

VR technology for architects and filmmakers

Through the architectural design XRTISAN "build" houses directly in virtual space

Using the control lever of the handheld device, the designer can change the size and height of the object in the virtual space and conveniently add additional material to the object if needed.

The architect or designer only needs to work in the virtual space to achieve the most authentic effect. This technique allows more work to be completed in less time, increasing not only the efficiency of the design process but also the quality of the work.

An external equipment helmet allows the designer to walk alongside the construction of the house, and the effect of the experience is like walking through the renovated house.

Similar software programs also feature HoloStudio , allowing developers to perform three-dimensional modeling directly in virtual space and add materials and colors based on the user's gestures.

The only more advanced method is to print 3D printer

Quill also offers similar programs for film and television production . This program specializes in animation and film creation , assisting with the creation of split screenplays, conceptual drawings, and art design for films.

time dimensions painting while also offering linear editing functions.

Exhibition “Mixed Realities”

As the first museum exhibition on the topic in the Stuttgart innovation and technology region, the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart six exemplary artistic positions that deal with both analog and digital processes.

Tim Berresheim, Spiros Hadjidjanos, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Mélodie Mousset, Regina Silveira and The Swan Collective all deal equally with elements of the physical, real and virtual world and combine both in their works.

Five years ago, the major special exhibition already explored how the different forms of expression influence, correspond, and expand each other.

The term “Mixed Realities” underlines the exhibition’s thesis that digital and analog, virtual and real worlds do not exist side by side in parallel or represent opposites, but rather form a continuum and can complement and/or even enrich each other – in any case, in a constant exchange.

Integration of augmented reality into the creative process of artists

The integration of augmented reality into the creative process of artists is a further step towards expanding creative boundaries. The ability to integrate virtual objects into a real environment opens up entirely new design possibilities for artists.

AR can be used not only as a medium for interacting with virtual objects, but also as a tool for creating works of art.

For example, 3D models can be projected directly into the real world and modified.

“Present Futures: Virtual and Augmented Reality in Art” – under this title, Acute Art with the renowned Royal College of Art and the world's leading contemporary artists, offering access to state-of-the-art technologies that enable them to realize their creative vision in NFTs as well as virtual and augmented realities.

Led by John Slyce (Senior Tutor, RCA) and Daniel Birnbaum (Artistic Director, Acute Art), the program offers an introduction in London to a fascinating world of new technologies and how virtual and augmented realities are changing contemporary art and its institutions.

Participants in the course will encounter contributions from leading representatives of some of London's most important institutions, as well as some of the most influential contemporary artists, publishers and collectors – including Olafur Eliasson , Hans Ulrich Obrist and Brian Donnelly/KAWS .

Innovative design through virtual experimentation

Virtual experimentation enables innovative design and opens up new avenues for artists to realize their creative ideas. By using virtual reality (VR), they can test and optimize various designs in a digital environment before moving on to production.

Virtual experimentation offers the opportunity to simulate materials or try out textures. This allows artists to create innovative surface structures or explore unconventional material combinations.

Furthermore, VR technologies also allow for the testing of new formats or dimensions. For example, a sculptor can use VR to view a sculpture in different sizes and thus find out which proportion works best.

also offer exciting opportunities for experimental design architecture

Building designs can be visualized in 3D, and it is possible to “walk” through these spaces even before they are actually built – this saves time and costs when planning a project.

The integration of augmented reality (AR) further expands the perspective of the virtual experiment: Virtual objects can be seamlessly integrated into real-world scenarios. This interactive nature gives the user the opportunity to actively participate in the design process, for example by moving furniture or changing color schemes – thereby achieving the most individualized result and simultaneously enriching the creative process.

Photogrammetry, 3D scanning, 3D printing, augmented reality, as well as CGI and machine learning in photography

The exhibition “Expect the Unexpected – Current Concepts for Photography” at the Kunstmuseum Bonn is dedicated to the questions of the new visual worlds of digital change and how current technological developments affect artistic photography .

It presents representative artistic positions from the last ten years that have significantly contributed to the expansion and redesign of artistic photography.

In addition to traditional photographic tools, the artists also use new photography-based tools such as photogrammetry , 3D scanning , 3D printing , augmented reality CGI , and machine learning .

Achim Mohné produced a 3D-printed model of the museum as well as a video showing a virtual model of the museum. These scale models of the art museum are based on a specially developed analog-digital process in which Mohné creates images of the selected location from all sides not in the real space, but with virtual "camera drones" in the Google Earth app.

Photogrammetry is used to calculate a three-dimensional, virtual architectural model from these screenshots, which is then 3D-printed and exhibited.

Both the 3D model and the virtual model of the museum shown from all sides in the video appear distorted and blurry; the colors are muted, the shapes simplified, the depths shallower, and glitches and disturbances create a sense of alienation.

This visual effect, due to the recording and rendering technology used by Google, leads to an ambivalent relationship between the recorded location and its image, and thus to the question of which imaging tools we work with daily and how they influence and shape our perception of our surroundings.

Outside, Mohné's work continues: In the museum square, near the art museum, stands a tree that Achim Mohné also photographed using Google Earth data.

Using augmented reality, a QR code allows visitors to overlay Mohné's "Google Earth tree" on their smartphone with the real tree – blurring the lines between reality and virtual image and merging the two.

Sources, references and further information:

• Lydia Lehmann , University Communications Department, University of Stuttgart:  Like on stage: “Re/producing Realities” is investigating how digital media create realities; https://idw-online.de/de/news819833
• Royal College of Art x Acute Art:  Present Futures: Virtual and Augmented Reality in Art ; https://acuteart.com/royal-college-of-art-x-acute-art/
• Xingming Wu and Yehan Li : Experience Mode of Digital Media Art under Virtual Reality Technology ; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8786544/
• Yue Dai on Hindawi : Digital Media Art Creation Based on Virtual Reality and Semantic Feature Fusion ; https://www.hindawi.com/journals/wcmc/2022/9144951/

• Bonn Art Museum : EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED – CURRENT CONCEPTS FOR PHOTOGRAPHY ; https://www.kunstmuseum-bonn.de/de/ausstellungen/expect-the-unexpected/