A Hand-held 3D-Printed Box Projector - Study for a Souvenir from a Mixed-Reality Experience

Abstract

The most recent developments in digital technology have given rise to an increasingly close, articulate, and profitable contamination between reality and virtuality, creating a completely new mixed-reality experience in which enjoying cultural goods becomes mediated by technology and translated into something technological. The memory of a mixed-reality event usually ends with the simple audio-visual recording of the event, which is later shared privately or on social networks. Our aim is to illustrate a quick, low-cost procedure to create portable reproductions of spatial augmented reality experienced in urban spaces. The idea of the souvenir grows out of a desire to connect the memory of a site-specific cultural exhibit to the architectural heritage that frames it and serves as a background. We define the technical/operational framework for realizing a hand-held 3D-printed box projector based on the use of a smartphone and Pepper's ghost effect.