SCARS OF DEMOCRACY

TitleSCARS OF DEMOCRACY
BrandSTROKE ART FAIR
Product/ServiceSCARS OF DEMOCRACY APP
Category D06. Spatial & Sculptural Exhibitions and Experiences
Entrant SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
PR PLAN.NET Munich, GERMANY
Production PLAN.NET Munich, GERMANY
Production 2 FIELD OF VIEW MEDIA Feldafing, GERMANY
Additional Company CAPO'S FINEST Munich, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Alexander Schill SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Global Chief Creative Officer
Carsten Popp PLAN.NET Creative Concept
Maximilian Schöngen SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Global Creative Strategist
Markus Maczey PLAN.NET Executive Creative Director
Michael Sundermann PLAN.NET Creative Director
Vanessa Holz PLAN.NET Junior Art Director
Isabella Graß PLAN.NET Junior Art Director
Gareth Watson PLAN.NET Senior Editor Content
Jonas Heitzer PLAN.NET Creative Coder
Efim Tamplon PLAN.NET Junior Creative Coder

Background

The "right to exercise artistic freedom" under Article 19 of the UN Convention for Human Rights is increasingly under threat worldwide. As one of Europe's most important urban art fairs STROKE Art Fair chose to celebrate this internationally ratified human right with a special exhibition of "Scars of Democracy" – a series of political portraits by Munich-based street artist “capo's finest”. The series includes paintings of Obama, Erdogan, Merkel and more, their bodies adorned with tattoos that represent decisions, unfinished business and the things they tried to keep from the public eye. For the first time, street art was transformed into a virtual vernissage: digitally deciphered in an Augmented Reality-App where users could reveal the truth behind each tattoo.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

This project was about bringing the physical and virtual worlds together and engaging users in the fight for artistic freedom. During the STROKE Art Fair exhibition, huge canvases depicting each political portrait hung from the ceilings for attendees to view – but the true depth of the experience and message was only possible with digital augmentation. We developed the SCARS AR app to allow users to interact with the portraits on a whole new level. Visitors at the art fair could hold their smartphones in front of the tattoos to scan them and see the story (thoroughly researched video snippets) behind the tattoo. For those not visiting the art fair, the app’s “Couch Mode” enabled users to immerse themselves in this murky world of politics from the comfort of their own home: users virtually place the protagonists onto their home walls and discover the stories behind each tattoo.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

The artworks of the ten politicians were presented in a “larger than life” way at the STROKE Art Fair on huge canvases. The artworks were also placed on rollups including the quotation of Article 19 of the UN Convention for Human Rights. The artist wanted to share the information behind the artworks, additional posters, stickers and other merchandise articles were given away at the exhibition for free. Over 2000 posters, 6000 stickers and 30 bags with the imprints of the politicians were given away.

List the results (20% of vote)

More than 8000 visitors got actively involved in the AR-exhibition with hundreds of (free) App Downloads in just 48 hours as well as a broad international social media response (1927 Instagram followers).