Philadelphia Artist Goes To Space With Augmented Reality Artwork Initiative

Hello Siloites (Siloers?) my name is David Bradford and I would like to share my art story with you, one involving augmented reality artwork that I have recently activated on the International Space Station and Mars as part of my Go Love Universally initiative. This is the first fine art activation of its kind in terms of distance (62,368,540 miles, to be exact) is aptly called Future. In case you were wondering, Yes there will be a Guiness World Record attempt based on this achievement. 

A look to the stars. My next (virtual) canvas with new augmented reality fine art activation, titled, Go Love Universally.

This art initiative comes at a time in which much of the world is still under travel restrictions due to COVID-19 and was designed to include everyone around the planet and those orbiting, watching from above. Born out of exploring a way to express and distribute fine art to the public while using consumer technology, I started with using bus stops as fiducial markers (QR codes) in Philadelphia, New York City, San Francisco, and London.

When I was asked to initially introduce my augmented art initiative in the Philadelphia Weekly, I said that while I’ve been social distancing, I came up with a way to share positive messages with people using AR and recognizable visual triggers found easily around Philly.

It is a way for a mass amount of people to interact with their surroundings in a safe way that also creates positive feelings through the messages being communicated.

Within two weeks of launching Go Love Universally, I took my art initiative into space, bringing the art from Philadelphia to Mars. For curious consumers of this activation, all pieces can be viewed at select locations using the Artivive app, a free augmented reality fine art app available for iOS and Android.

Steve Morrison, co-host of Philadelphia morning show Preston & Steve (93.3 WMMR), said to me: “Hey, this is pretty cool!  What if the aliens in They Live just wanted to spread positive messages?  Well, you have a potential answer with this project.  Kudos to you, Sir!”

Go Love Universally is an ongoing project, as future collaborations with artists are to be announced.