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Voxel Bridge is a public hybrid immersive artwork that uses augmented reality (AR) and based on blockchain technology. The facility is located in Vancouver under the Cambi Bridge. Voxel Bridge is an installation that will be part of the Vancouver Biennale from Summer 2021 to 2023. Artist Jessica Angel is working on the object.

Description
The Voxel Bridge project is part of the Vancouver Biennale. The object is located on the lower tier of the Cambie Bridge, the first wooden version of which was built in 1891. The word “voxel” means a point in a three-dimensional space. Voxel Bridge exists both as a tangible analogue work of art and an online digital one. The author of the public art installation is Colombian artist Jessica Angel. She created this installation at the suggestion of Barrie Mowatt, the Artistic Director and Founder of the Vancouver Biennale.

The art installation covers an area of about 8,000sq.ft. The organizers of the Biennale announce that Voxel Bridge will become the largest installation in the field of digital public art. According to the COO, "nothing has been done at this scale outdoors that’s fully interactive".

The physical part of the installation is a vinyl overlay mounted directly on the surface of the bridge: on the lower part of its flooring, around the columns, as well as on the sidewalk, under the feet of passers-by. This vinyl surface is visible to the naked eye and looks like a custom circuit board. Even without the involvement of augmented reality, the impression of three-dimensional internal elements of the computer is created. On the vinyl layer on the ground, markers will be located, somewhat similar to QR codes. The markers are designed to be read using a smartphone scanner.

Users will need to download a dedicated application to access the Voxel Bridge digital layer. This application will have a scanner that is required to read the markers. By moving the phone, users will see digital objects around them. It is announced that these objects will be movable, animated and interactive: they could be "touched" through a smartphone.

The installation of the vinyl cover began on June 7, 2021. The development of the entire project took about 3 years and more than $ 300,000, far exceeding the planned budget. Therefore, the animations presented are supposed to be sold to recover the costs. The opening of the art object is scheduled at noon on August 12, 2021. The installation will be supported until 2023.

The project will feature 20 different interactive animations, which also display the history of the Kusama network and how it was created, funded, and governed. Each of animation correspond to its own NFT - a non-fungible token in a blockchain technology system.

The Vancouver Biennale app, through which users can interact with augmented reality, will be available for free download on Mac and Android devices. Jessica Angel has been working on the online element in partnership with the Spheroid Universe, which powers blockchain technology on the Kusama Network.

Meaning
The viewer gets inside the installation and is immersed in an interactive digital environment. This became possible thanks to the combination of the Kusama Network blockchain development and the Spheroid Universe AR development: applications created by Spheroid Universe in collaboration with Jessica Angel visualize the blockchain processes taking place in the Kusama Network. Thus, the meaning of the whole project is in the experience of visualizing complex digital technologies and of creating large-scale AR objects for urban spaces.

The visualization of the Kusama Network blockchain as an AR installation is based on dynamic geolocation, where the key technological problem is the precise positioning of a large-scale interactive AR object. The experience of solving this problem is supposed to be applied in the Polkadot / Kusama Network ecosystem for the visualization of AR objects of NFT art. Voxel Bridge in this regard is not only a high-tech task in the implementation of contemporary art in augmented reality space, but also an experimental experience in visualizing NFT art objects that have appeared and circulate in the Kusama Network. The project is the first test of the Web 3.0 Spheroid.Earth algorithm for positioning objects over large areas.

The organizers of the forum call the Voxel Bridge project "a milestone event in Contemporary Art", explaining it this way:

"This is not simply a mural or a piece of crypto art. Voxel Bridge exists simultaneously in three worlds: in the real world under Vancouver’s Cambie Bridge, in Augmented Reality as experienced through the app, and in live blockchain. As an integrated fusion of the real and digital worlds, it delivers a groundbreaking audience experience using the latest advancements in Augmented Reality technology."

External sources

 * Voxel Bridge on Vancouver Biennale official page