Upcycle AR:
WebAR Experience

Description & Background

Client: Javid Jah, Multidisciplinary Artist
Timeframe: 4 weeks (June – July 2024)
Location:  Harbour Square Park Basin • Toronto, Ontario

Bioimmersive developed a web-based augmented reality (webAR) experience designed to elevate audience engagement of Javid Jah’s public sculpture, Upcycle.

Javid’s largescale artwork, commissioned by Waterfront Toronto, is a floating installation constructed from hundreds of upcycled plastic water bottles.

Each of the bottles contains a water-related message submitted by people from around the world.

Core Features

Dynamic retrieval and display of over 100 multimedia messages

Custom 3D models and animations

Interactive elements

Immersive soundscape

The WebAR component of the project offered audiences an immersive, interactive experience, allowing visitors to explore selected messages through augmented reality.

Users launched the experience on-site by scanning a QR code on the project signage with their mobile device. Once in the webAR experience, users could view or listen to submitted messages.

Users were also prompted to visit the project website to submit their own water reflections. Maintained by the artist, these messages are currently compiled in an online database to be used in the future to extend the life of the project and contribute to an ongoing dialogue surrounding the themes of the artwork.

Values-Aligned Collaboration

The Upcycle project invited audiences to reflect on our collective relationship to water and the global impacts of displacement and dispossession on Indigenous water rights. Javid Jah’s creative process was deeply shaped by his collaboration with Anishinaabe knowledge practitioner Dr. Debby Danard, whose guidance brought so much depth to the project.

For our team at Bioimmersive, it was a true honour to use the power of augmented reality (AR) to deliver an engaging experience to audiences. This collaboration reflects our vision and deep commitment to using XR (extended reality) to foster connections with the natural word.