A NEW CANVAS

AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGIES ARE REVOLUTIONISING ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, OFFERING IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES IN FIELDS LIKE INTERIOR DESIGN AND STORYTELLING

- POOJA DAS

Imagine stepping into a world where stories breathe around you, no longer bound by the frame of a screen or the edge of a page. The horizon shifts with your gaze, and each step pulls you deeper, as imagination and reality intertwine, blurring the lines between what is and what could be. That is what the burgeoning fields of augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies can create, or are already creating.

Take, for example, Charaana Labs' recently-held exhibition River Realms: The Heartbeat of Bengaluru, which used AR and VR to bring the story of the Cauvery river to the Bengalureans - up close and personal. Raksha Rao, co-founder of Chaarana Labs, explains the experience: "The AR segment explores the journey of water from the Cauvery River to Bengaluru's taps through 3D animated models, while the VR segment immerses viewers in the environmental challenges posed by our growing water demands."