Snap Partners with LACMA & LA Artists to Launch Location-Based AR Art Monuments

ver the last decade, Los Angeles has rapidly transformed into a thriving new hub for visual artists. To pay homage to the growing visual arts in LA, Snapchat has worked with the community by collaborating with LA artists to create a series of stunning augmented reality monuments and murals around the city.

The augmented reality art series was created in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and has been named "LACMA × Snapchat: Monumental Perspectives".

To find them, users can simply tap the Map icon in the Snapchat app. The immersive art installations have been scattered throughout the city, in Angeles Memorial Coliseum, MacArthur Park, Earvin "Magic" Johnson Park, and LACMA. 

CEO of LACMA, Michael Govan, stated:

"LACMA and our partners at Snapchat are fundamentally interested in storytelling, but in new and innovative ways, and that's what many artists are interested in as well," 

Govan continued:

"The resulting monuments visualized by Mercedes Dorame, I.R. Bach, Glenn Kaino, Ruben Ochoa, and Ada Pinkston are not only relevant to issues of today—Los Angeles, civic space, community— but also to the medium of art, opening doors to new ways of thinking about art in both physical and virtual spaces."

The LACMA × Snapchat: Monumental Perspectives installations will be available to view  just before the start of the International Day for Monuments and Sites.

The incorporation of augmented reality technologies injects LA with a breath of fresh air after many months of lockdown. It is yet another demonstration of how augmented reality is changing the way we interact with art.

In the past, these installations would be physical, and only to be accessed in the confines of a museum. Augmented reality is liberating these artists to showcase their work from anywhere and allowing them to merge with the city as it continues to build its burgeoning art legend.

As well as the augmented reality art series, users can launch the Snapchat virtual map of LA, which highlights the different monument locations. This can be accessed by anyone with the Snapchat app to enjoy non-location-based versions of the art installations.