Once the province of Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters, a new dawn of augmented reality (AR) looks set to leap from the big screen into our everyday lives. AR merges real and digital worlds by placing a graphic layer onto our surroundings, creating a hyper-real relationship between humans, screens and tomorrow’s world. Employing a bold experimental approach, AR makes dreams a reality, from unreal, animated AR tattoos to the potential for public artworks to be created on an infinite scale.

At this year’s Auto Shanghai show, MINI announced the integration of augmented reality into its cars via driving goggles. As the first automotive company with an innovative digital gaze, drivers will be able to access a sixth sense with a suite of features enabling the technology to function both inside and outside of the car. MINI Augmented Vision promotes a safer driving experience by showing relevant information that doesn’t distract from the road, and rendering the opaque doors of the car transparent – meaning that parking will be a breeze.

To accompany the unveiling of MINI’s revolutionary turn, the Parisian design collective Ill-Studio has created a witty tutorial, Another Reality, which lampoons the pop-science show aesthetic, introducing AR to an unsuspecting audience. “We didn’t realize that there were so many different applications of AR, from entertainment to sport to art to medicine,” says Ill-Studio. “It’s like a Philip K Dick novel becoming reality. Imagine everyone wearing AR glasses in the streets. That would be surreal! We’re quite sure that in 20 or 30 years we will remember the glasses as a cool postmodern fashion accessory. We like to think of it as an evolution in style.”