After the great success of London’s first mural festival in September, London is continuing to find ways to experience art in times of social distancing. From 8th December -5th January Acute Art joined forces with Dazed Media to present Unreal City.

This exhibition was located along the Southbank, arguably London’s premier culture zone, once named the “String of Cultural Pearls” by Richard Rogers. For four weeks and four weeks only, the public was invited to download the Unreal City app and explore Southbank like never before with 36 sculptures arranged as a walking tour along the Thames. Why the app? Because the sculptures were visible only with AR – all arranged against the magnificent panoramic views of North London.

Across 24 sites between Waterloo Bridge and the Millenium Bridge the app showed work by world-renowned international artists including Nina Chanel Abney, Olafur Eliasson, Cao Fei, Alicja Kwade, Koo Jeong A and Marco Brambilla. Some of the sculptures (by Darren Bader, KAWS, Bjarne Melgaard and Tomás Saraceno) were never-seen-before works.

‘In recent years works that involve virtual elements have regularly been included in biennials and museum exhibitions, but usually in ways that obey traditional institutional structures. Could one instead imagine immersive experiences distributed across geographies in novel ways, connecting locals perceptual nodes in ways that create entirely new exhibition formats? I believe the answer is yes. We will use these technologies to change the structure of the art world and make possible new forms of global exchange for a future in which we will be less keen to jump on a plane.’ - Daniel Birnbaum artistic director at Acute Art and curator of Unreal City

Acute Art is a residential organisation of Somerset House which specialises in producing publicly-accessible digital art using AR and VR technology. The organisation collaborates with leading contemporary artists to realise their vision through technology.

Looking to explore the creative endeavours of London streets? Why not book a Shoreditch Street Art Tour and discover the most dynamic and beautiful pieces the East End has to offer.