More art in public spaces is soon to be seen in the Dutch new town of Almere. DDAMA's (Dutch Digital Art Museum Almere) digital art tour app offers opportunities for artists and for local and global use. Moreover, it makes art accessible to more people outside the physical museum.
The operation of the VR-augmented Dutch Digital Art app is similar to Pokémon Go: using the app and your phone's camera, you can virtually discover objects while walking outside. You see art in public spaces through Augmented Reality in the app.
A number of interested parties will be testing the beta version of the DDAMA app on Friday 18 August in Almere Centrum. The app will soon allow you to virtually walk around the art on display and you can even take a photo with it. In squares and at the fairgrounds, testers search for art objects with their phones. Magic mushrooms at the fun fair and aliens over a lake and storming a theatre? Fun to look at art outside like this you can do alone or together.
Making art accessible
Art outside makes it accessible to everyone and does not require an expensive building. The virtual reality app was developed by DDAMA under the guidance of Jan Coenen, a volunteer at DDAMA, together with students from Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. Artwork produced by the local artist Jan Coenen has been used in the VR tour test app.
Exhibition opportunities for artists
The app can make work by more artists visible and accessible to a wide audience. No groundwork and permit procedures are needed to display art outdoors. More artists can get a stage and more people can enjoy it. With help from the DDAMA-VR app, soon more art can be seen in Almere's public spaces. Supporting the further development of the app, for example, will give Flevoland artists more opportunities to show their work.
Out of necessity
The Dutch Digital Art Musuem Almere (DDAMA) is a priviate initiative and exists for six years now. The physical museum has changed venues in Almere seven times. The VR-augmented Dutch Digital Art app will offer the museum access and space not only to local and regional artists, but also to global artists. It will also offer access not only to local and regional viewers, but also to global users of the app.
The VR-augmented Dutch Digital Art app can be found in the Playstore. (For now available only for Android.)
If you can read and listen in Dutch, there is a TV-radio interview with Jan Coenen: https://www.omroepflevoland.nl/gemist/radio/345297/nieuwe-app-is-soort-van-pokemon-go-maar-dan-voor-kunst
