ARt, ARchitecture & AR:  Augmented Reality & Jewish Art

by Cynthia Beth Rubin & Yona Verwer

Art Kibbutz, Nolan Park, Building 6B, Governors Island, NY
August 21 - September 18, 2016, partially overlapping with the Governors Island Art Fair (September weekends).

VIEWING HOURS
Sundays 11:00am -5:30pm.
Cynthia & Yona will be there Sundays August 28th, September 4th, 11th or 18th.

ABOUT THE ART
Artists Cynthia Beth Rubin and Yona Verwer, as interpreters of history, weave together the stories of the past and the present in layers of paint, photographs, video, and recording. Their collaborative project consists of digital prints, acrylic paint, and augmented reality on canvas. 

The imagery reflects the former Jewish immigrant neighborhood of New York’s Lower East Side, mixed with traditional signs and motifs from existing and lost synagogues. 

Using an iPad or smartphone, the viewer triggers Augmented Reality videos embedded in the artwork, embarking on a discovery process of experiencing the layered history of the Lower East Side. 

These videos include the spoken voice of a historian (Elissa Sampson), imagery of related symbols from other historic sources such as medieval manuscripts, Yiddish songs from Eastern Europe, and a photographic portrait taken more than 100 years ago in a studio on the Lower East Side. 

Digital media are integral part of both the development and the user experience in this series. First, there was the layering of imagery that was facilitated by the mixture of layers of physical paint and printed digital imagery, which in turn was developed from both photographic and painterly output of each of the artists. Secondly, the wide range of Augmented Reality videos are derived from the artists’ own diverse interests and in turn what they anticipate as the varied interests of the public. 

In addition to their collaborative series, the artists each show a few solo works as well, also based on Jewish architecture. Verwer shows works inspired by Lower East Side synagogues; Rubin shows European synagogues. 

More information here.