WE ARE FLOWAR

flowAR connects art, research, and community. We bring people together, on site at IGA2027 and digitally—to create new, creative worlds together. Augmented reality creates experiences that make diversity visible, encourage participation, and allow people to experience their own environment with new eyes.

The Team

THIS IS WHAT WE DO

The flowAR research and development project explores how immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR) can redesign collaborative art installations in a nature-oriented context. At its core is a user-centered AR authoring tool that enables even laypeople to make their own creative contributions to immersive art installations. The goal is to create new forms of participatory art in public spaces – low-threshold, inclusive, and ecologically sensitizing. FlowAR pursues a user-centered approach and investigates the conditions under which digital and physical communities participate in co-creative processes, what motivates them to remain engaged in the long term, and how these processes can be meaningfully supported by digital tools.

Encourage collective creativity

flowAR connects physical and digital spaces to create hybrid creative environments. The technical basis is a modular AR authoring tool that enables collaborative design. Building on methods such as design thinking and action design research, the needs and motivations of communities are identified and directly translated into the design of tools and processes.

Motivation and sustainability

A central component of the project is the scientific monitoring and design of hybrid communities: What motivates people to participate creatively? How can engagement be maintained? The emergence, dynamics, and stabilization of these communities are continuously examined in order to tailor the AR authoring tool to their specific needs. In two iterations, prototypes of the AR application are tested, deployed in the field, and optimized based on user feedback. The communities are seen not only as an audience, but as active co-artists.

Digital art in public spaces

The International Garden Exhibition 2027 (IGA2027) in the Ruhr metropolitan region serves as a real-world application. In the so-called Future Garden, a publicly accessible, immersive AR art installation is being created, which will be filled with contributions from the community. Contributions can be created using mobile devices and made visible on site using state-of-the-art technology – locally anchored, digitally enhanced.

Transfer & Impact

flowAR strengthens the interface between technology, society, and collaborative participation. The results of the project open up new possibilities for museums, cultural institutions, cities, and civil society initiatives. This not only strengthens creative competence, but also raises awareness of issues such as the environment, urbanity, and participation in public spaces.