»Shades of Absence: Governing Bodies« 
Light Box
Light Box
© Tamiko Thiel; Silhouettes of Robert Mapplethorpe and Paul Cadmus in the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
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Information
Tamiko Thiel >
»Shades of Absence: Governing Bodies«, 2013
Co-Workers & Funding:
Tamiko Thiel, 2013.http://tamikothiel.com/AR/shades-of-absence.html
Technology
Hardware
iOS and Android mobile devicesSoftware
Layar augmented reality app; custom AR server
Descriptions & Essays
“Shades of Absence: Governing Bodies"
Addresses artists who have been censored by - or due to threats by - high members of the U.S. government. Premiered in 2013 at "Manifest:AR," curator Joseph Hale, Corcoran Gallery of Art/Corcoran School of Art and Design. The installations are permanently located at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the US Capitol Building, and the offices of the National Endowment for the Arts.
In these "pavilions of absence," images of contemporary artists whose works have been censored are reduced to gold silhouettes and placed in the midst of terms of transgression. Each erased silhouette stands for countless unknown or lesser known artists who face censorship or persecution with no public support.
The augmented reality artworks are placed on site via GPS coordinates and can be viewed in the displays of smartphones. When viewing the artwork on site, touching the display brings up this list of censored artists, including but not limited to the artists depicted.
Literature
Exhibitions & Events