Artisan Dystopia / Utopia 2070

Dystopia / Utopia 2070 was an Artisan exhibition created to mark the gallery's 50-year anniversary. The exhibition imagined life 50 years into the future, using stories written for the project as the basis for physical artworks.

The AR companion extended the exhibition by bringing parts of those stories into the visitor experience. Through a mobile device, visitors could encounter characters, sounds and interactive elements connected to the artworks, creating a deeper layer of engagement around the exhibition.

The exhibition already had a rich premise: writers had imagined future worlds, and artists had translated those stories into physical work. The challenge was to design a digital layer that added to that experience without distracting from the artworks.

Most people involved had little or no experience with AR, so the early design work needed to focus on the visitor experience rather than the technology. The goal was to help the curator, artists and team imagine what the AR layer could feel like, how visitors would use it, and how it could support the exhibition's future-facing theme.

Visitors used the app inside the exhibition to activate AR content connected to selected artworks. The digital layer brought story elements into the space through characters, effects, sound and interactive moments.

The experience allowed visitors to choose how much they wanted to engage. They could listen to the curator, experience characters, or move through both layers, rather than being forced into a single path.

This project shows an early delivered example of the same physical/digital thinking that sits behind my current practice. The AR layer was not separate from the exhibition; it was designed to sit beside the physical artworks and provide extra story, atmosphere and interaction when the visitor chose to engage.

It also shows the importance of framing emerging technology through the visitor experience. The useful question was not how do we add AR? but what does this digital layer help the visitor understand or feel inside the exhibition?

Artisan Dystopia / Utopia 2070 helped shape the way I think about digital layers across a visitor journey. The broader concept considered pre and post exhibition touchpoints, visitor types and different modes of engagement, even though the delivered phase focused on the in-gallery experience.

That thinking connects directly to my current guided digital experience work: designing digital layers that can adapt to different moments, audiences and contexts while still supporting the physical experience.