Integrating augmented reality into figurative sculpture for enhanced artistic expression

The incorporation of augmented reality (AR) into contemporary art practices has opened up new avenues for enhancing the expressive capabilities of physical artworks. Artists are increasingly utilizing AR to integrate narrative, interactive, or animated elements into their creations, yet scholarly research on how AR design features affect the viewer's experience of sculpture is still sparse (Sovhyra, 2020). This research introduces a conceptual framework for merging AR with figurative sculpture to amplify artistic expression and viewer interpretation. Development and testing of this framework was done using a practice-based prototype artwork that incorporates clay sculpting, 3D scanning techniques, digital animation techniques, spatial audio composing and augmented reality overlay techniques. The prototype or concept was able to transform the figurative sculpture into an immersive and interactive object that could unveil hidden messages or meanings beyond gestures and encode supplementary or contextual information into the object without necessarily modifying or affecting its physicality or form. Preliminary testing will support the iterative creative process by informing artistic decisions made by the artist during the development of the prototype. The anticipated outcome is a refined conceptual framework illustrating how AR can function as an expressive extension of sculptural practice, offering artists, curators, and researchers a structured approach for creating impactful AR enhanced figurative sculpture works.