영상 (Yeongsang) is a site-responsive Augmented Reality (AR) installation. The title is a polysemous Korean word that can be translated variously as image/video/reflection. The installation comprises a custom iOS app paired with a 360º camera housed in a custom wooden sculpture, with a digital trigger image etched into the side. The audience views the world through their phone camera, and the app augments the visual world with a pulsating reflective mirror-like sphere. The video stream from the camera is textured onto this sphere, creating the impression of a mirror. A wind sensor effects the texturing creating a rippling effect when the wind picks up.
YeongSang addresses the issue of site responsiveness in AR. Whilst early proponents of AR championed its potential for “transforming space to place” (Jin 2016:21), there typically is a disconnect between the digital overlay and the physical reality of the space being augmented (Young & Marshall 2023). By literally reflecting the physical world from around, and harnessing real-time wind data, YeongSang realises the goal of AR to “interact with, rather than obscure, our situated context” (Young & Marshall 2023:2).
Research Background Augmented Reality (AR) art installations overlay digital content onto the real world viewed through a mobile device. Whilst early proponents of AR championed its potential for “transforming space to place” (Jin 2016:21), there typically is a disconnect between the digital overlay and the physical reality of the space being augmented (Young & Marshall 2023). The digital content is generally not aware of, or responsive to, the physical context or site. This research asks: how can Augmented Reality be site responsive? Research Contribution Yeongsang is an AR artwork pioneering novel approaches to incorporating real-time aspects of the physical world. It comprises a custom iOS app paired with a 360º camera streaming to the app. The audience views the world through their phone camera, and the app augments the visual world with a pulsating reflective mirror-like sphere. The camera stream is textured onto this sphere, creating the impression of a mirror. A wind sensor effects the texturing creating a rippling effect. YeongSang opens new and alternative possibilities for site responsiveness in AR. By literally reflecting the physical world from around, and harnessing real-time wind data, it experiments with ways AR might “interact with, rather than obscure, our situated context” (Young & Marshall 2023:2). Research Significance This work was selected by international jury (4 blind peer reviewers) for inclusion in ISEA2025, the most significant international research forum for electronic arts, with an acceptance rate of 11%. The YeongSang app has been downloaded by users from 16 different countries. It was exhibited for a week at the Seoul Art Centre, the premiere national gallery of Korea.