A glut of online exhibitions, Instagram Lives and Zoom meetings have emerged from the near-global lockdown sparked by the novel coronavirus outbreak this year. Where few have been able to escape the constraints of two-dimensional interaction, mixed reality company Acute Art has found new and impressive ways to bridge the disconnect between the self and screen.

“Today, where physical distancing guides our lives, it’s as crucial as ever that we surround ourselves with things and atmospheres that matter to us,” says Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, who has partnered with Acute Art to release Wunderkammer—the second launch of their app-based augmented reality project that connects with audiences like never before. The first launch, in March 2020, saw KAWS’ augmented reality (AR) artwork placed into public and private spaces around the globe. 

From what has now become the all-too-familiar comfort of home, users can enter Eliasson’s cabinet of curiosities and ‘collect’ natural elements, small artworks, and experiments from the artist’s studio. In an interview via video call with Nowness creative director Bunny Kinney, Eliasson reveals how AR is significant to his life and practice. 

Through the app a user can place a raging sun in the middle of any room; play with a puffin; experience the northern lights; summon a rain cloud and more. “The artwork is about challenging our perception of the everyday,” says the Berlin-based artist, “and actively welcoming that which lies on the boundary between the known and the unknown.” 

The augmented renderings continue in Eliasson’s tradition of creating work that manipulates spatial parameters and finds new awe in our boundless environment. Whether he is placing blocks of melting arctic ice in the center of London (Ice Watch, 2014) or creating indoor rainbows by manipulating water, light and mist (Beauty, 1993), Eliasson has spent decades finding new ways to reconnect audiences with the natural world. 

This is what makes Wunderkammer all the more poignant at a time when many are sheltering in place and seeking innovative ways to experience the outdoors from inside. “It is about creating spaces that meld the everyday and the extraordinary,” says the artist, “spaces that evoke vivid perceptions and embodied engagement.” 

WUNDERKAMMER is available to download for free from Acute Art on Google Play and the App Store