Seeing the Invisible

Seeing the Invisible is the most ambitious and expansive exhibition of contemporary artworks created with augmented reality (AR) technology. The exhibition premiered simultaneously in September 2021, in 12 gardens around the world, including Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Denver Botanic Gardens (Denver, Colorado, USA), Eden Project (Cornwall, England), Jerusalem Botanical Gardens (Jerusalem, Israel), Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (Cape Town, South Africa) and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Sarasota, Florida, USA).

Seeing the Invisible features works by more than a dozen international artists such as Ai Weiwei, Refik Anadol, El Anatsui, Isaac Julien CBE, Mohammed Kazem, Sigalit Landau, Sarah Meyohas, Pamela Rosenkranz, and Timur Si-Qin—including several artists’ first work in AR.

The AR nature of the exhibition allows for the creation of expansive, immersive works that engage with existing features of the natural landscape beyond the limitations of what is possible with physical artworks. Many of the works created for the exhibition have addressed related themes around nature, environment, and sustainability, and explore the interplay of the physical world with the digital one.

Seeing the Invisible allows visitors to engage via an app designed for the exhibition that is downloadable to smartphones and tablets.

Image: Sigalit Landau, Salt Stalagmite #1 [Three Bridges], 2021