In the summer of 2016, Pokémon Go took the world by storm. Obsessive teenagers (and adults) crisscrossed cities—public restrooms and cemeteries included—on the hunt for Pikachus, Charizards, and Squirtles. Almost overnight, the game revolutionized both the mobile gaming industry and the public’s awareness of the power of augmented reality as millions of people learned that accessing a virtual world was as simple as holding your phone in front of you.
Today, a similar concept with an arguably much nobler mission has taken over Sheffield, a British city just south of Manchester with a population of 580,000. But instead of heading out to catch collectible monsters, the people of Sheffield can wander off to iconic buildings in the city center and marvel at the digital artworks springing from their rooftops.
In February, Sheffield launched one of the world’s biggest augmented-reality art trails. Titled “Look Up!,” the trail counts four buildings, each of them paired with a QR code on the sidewalk below. Using a free app, viewers can scan that QR code to follow a bunch of animated arrows that lead their gaze upward. There, from the roof of a building, they can watch a stick figure made of different-colored balloons drift up, swirl around, and fade into the sky—all through their phone’s screen. (In the week following the launch, over 1,500 people had downloaded the app and almost 2,000 QR codes had been scanned.)
The platform and app were created by a local company called Megaverse, which worked closely with Niantic, the San Francisco company behind Pokémon Go. The virtual artworks were created by two other local firms: Universal Everything and Human Studio. The impetus of the project goes back to a single building located smack dab in the middle of Sheffield. The John Lewis department store had been an anchor in Sheffield since the 1960s, when the building was still known as the Cole Brothers store. And then the pandemic hit, the store closed, and John Lewis withdrew from the building. “Cue a massive outpouring of grief and frustration,” says Mark Mobbs, the city’s place brand and marketing manager. One resident toldThe Guardian that the closure felt “as bad as a death in the family.”
What locals didn’t know was that the city council had bought the building (which had by then been designated as a landmark) and made grand plans for its revival. In fact, it sat right in the middle of a regeneration project worth £470 million (about $580 million) that will bring new living spaces, offices, cultural venues, and food halls to the city center. “But because there’s all of that change being planned, and the general member of public doesn’t know the ins and outs of that, it just looks like shops have left town,” says Mobbs. In other words, the big narrative among locals was that Sheffield had lost its spirit.
To shake things up a bit, Mobbs was tasked with designing the kind of branded fences that make a construction site look a little more cheerful for the duration of the project. But Mobbs wasn’t kidding himself about the impact this kind of messaging would have. “Anything I write I felt could be easily criticized by people,” he says. “If you try to tell people something positive, it could create the opposite reaction, and the only way that I’ve ever seen of transforming a narrative around a place is public art.” But instead of static artworks, Mobbs had something more dynamic in mind.
Enter “Look Up!” The project quickly grew from an intervention on this one building to a citywide attempt to reengage residents with their city. On the roof of the former John Lewis building, for example, Universal Everything designed a parade of colorful characters that look like buildings with little dots for eyes. And at the city’s Central Library, which holds an art gallery, Human Studio rendered a gray cat called Hank, which slowly emerges from the roof to become about as tall as the building it sits on, then gazes down at you with quintessentially catlike nonchalance.
Sheffield isn’t the first city to leverage technology to strengthen people’s engagement. In 2018, Buffalo, New York’s Olmsted Park Conservancy turned two newly installed signs into “AR portals” to show visitors what two Frederick Law Olmsted-designed parks would have looked like if they still existed today. And earlier this year, the city of Phoenix, working with the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, developed an augmented-reality scavenger hunt that allows visitors to learn more about the city’s past and future in half a dozen locations across the city center.
In Sheffield, the team developed the art trail across four key locations in the city, all within roughly a mile radius. (After all, it’s meant to be a walkable trail.) The John Lewis building is intended to be a “beacon of change,” says Mobbs. The University building can help wow prospective students on Open Days. And the Central Library, located in the city’s theater district, just “made sense” as a stop on the tour, says Mobbs. The team plans to expand the art walk to include more buildings soon.
You may wonder why all the virtual art appears on rooftops when so much city life happens at street level. For one thing, Sheffield’s hilly topography makes it easy for people to appreciate the AR-enhanced rooftops from various vantage points. But most importantly, says Mobbs, when you put a piece of artwork on a rooftop, “the sky is your canvas.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.