Universe One: Portal to an Impossible City

A Mixed Reality Exhibition

Universe One is a world reconstruction magic spell the witch Irene Belserion casted to win an advantage against her opponents during the final war in Japanese manga, Fairy Tail. The spell reconstructed the terrains of the country Fiore; jumbling up the whole geographical structure. Fiore after Universe One is a land of Irene’s liking, a space she constructed with the aim of winning the war.

Universe One, as an extension of the (Re)Imagine City/(Re)Imagine Home AR Exhibition, is a creation of a new cityscape, an utopia of free expression, a space where artworks can freely exist. The virtual city’s landmarks are replicas of those in the real world, however, the city creates a new world order of what these places mean and how the artworks relate to them. A dreamscape of the wildest imaginations, this space embodies both escapism and a portal to an impossible city. Utopian ideas and dystopian realities coexist in this cityscape. We are free in this made up space, but the reality of us being cast out of our physical spaces still remains.

(Re)Imagine City/(Re)Imagine Home is an Augmented Reality exhibition of Public Art hosted on Instagram. It comments on the scarcity of Public Art in Myanmar and finds alternative ways for the artists to express themselves while getting involved in the process of adding socio-cultural values to cities.

Mobile Phone and latest updated version of Instagram needed to enjoy the exhibition fully. Please update your Instagram for the best experience. @re_imagine_city on Instagram.

Universe One Exhibition Poster Designed by ZUNE (Thoughtform)

Manga panels from Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima

Augmented Reality Works in Public Places

Augmented Reality has been a part of Art production for decades but it is still a rarely charted territory by artists around the world. With the pandemic forcing the Art world to rethink about art production, consuming and how art practitioners can continue to connect with public, we need more efficient, mass reaching methods for continuation. Thus, the exhibition was hosted on Instagram, a commonly used social media platform. The public was able to interact, see the artworks via Instagram feed. This method transcends time and space, and breaks barriers of 2 dimensional artworks on the gallery spaces. The public is able to interact with the artworks more closely, examine, play and get as close as possible to an artwork.

This Augmented Reality exhibition is free of physical boundaries yet able to invade physical spaces and will satisfy the public hunger of a more vibrant community. This will help integrate Public Art in cities in Myanmar, digitally invading the spaces to show people the possibilities and benefits of Public Art.

"Digital space and digitization are not exclusive conditions that stand outside the nondigital. Digital space is embedded in the larger societal, cultural, subjective, eco- nomic, imaginary structurations of lived experience and the systems within which we exist and operate."

Reading the city in a Global Digital Age , Saskia Sasen.