Messengers
of the AI
For artist Dennis Rudolph, we developed an immersive AR opera
that blends oil painting, virtual sculpture and interactive storytelling.
Client
Dennis Rudolph
Services
Design
Development
Mixed Reality
Challenge
Rudolph’s exhibition at the former swimming-pool venue featured seven large oil-paintings titled “Messengers”. The challenge was to layer a virtual dimension over these real artworks via HoloLens such that viewers wearing the headset could experience animated brush-strokes, 3D sculptures and a full twenty-minute opera performance triggered in the physical space. Precise spatial alignment of virtual content with the real paintings—and the ability to relocate the show—added significant technical complexity.
Idea
The central idea was to turn each painting into a portal: viewers don’t just look at art, they step into it. Using VR-drawn sculptures (via Tilt Brush) the messengers emerged from the canvas, performed an apocalyptic dance, and merged into a holographic collage of collapse and rebirth. The concept sought to merge traditional media (oil painting) with real-time AR performance—engaging the audience as part of the narrative.
Solution
We built a custom AR app for the HoloLens, employing spatial anchors tied to each painting to ensure virtual elements aligned to real-world geometry within a few centimetres. A bespoke calibration tool let the installation be rebuilt in varying layouts. Anchor data was shared with a server to capture the show from a spectator-view perspective. Together with the immersive soundtrack produced by Ryan Polisky, the installation created a seamlessly integrated physical-virtual opera, enabling viewers to inhabit the artwork rather than simply observe.
NSYNK Gesellschaft für Kunst und Technik mbH
