Snapchat Spectacles

Snap Inc (creators of Snapchat) is redefining how we interact with the world through their Augmented Reality (AR) 'Spectacles'. To fully explore the creative uses and implications of these unreleased AR wearables, Jack Hardiker is leading an ongoing R&D project with Snap and a small number of researchers from the prestigious Royal College of Art in London. This is an opportunity to explore and expand the meaningful, creative and critical uses of this new technology that has not yet been released to the public.

Alongside experimenting with ways in which Snap’s AR glasses and software can be integrated into art, design and media, the project is also interrogating the pedagogical potential of AR, examining what types of learning might be developed to support inclusive, intersectional and ecological AR. This might include addressing aspects of digital identity, the body/extended senses, inter/cross-species communication, environmental and social imperatives alongside data visualisation, sound, locative media and AI.

In addition to the student researchers, we have gathered expert practitioners from various key industries. Guests have included: Toby Coffey (National Theatre's Immersive Storytelling Studio), Harshadha Balasubramanian (Microsoft & USL), Dr Stacey Long-Genovese (Snap), Shira Wachsmann & Ameera Kawash (Orbital Bloom) and many more.