Seeing art through Google Glass

New Delhi: David Daytona has become the first artist in the world to integrate a public artwork with Google Glass. In his work “Portrait of America," which debuted in late 2013 in Miami, he has laid some 2,000 lenses across a 12-foot American flag. Underneath the layer of lenses, Daytona has placed numerous portraits of both historical figures and pop icons — like a conventional art object, but, if they choose, to also engage with it using Google's high-tech specs.Here's how it works: Daytona's work looks deep into America's identity and culture. It uses GPS locators, so that when a viewer slips on Google Glass, and directs his gaze at a particular part of the flag, the device begins to play one of more than 50 video or audio clips—Barack Obama's famous speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a clip of an early Tom and Jerry cartoon. For instance, saying something, like "JFK" activates his speech on truth and honesty. These multimedia features are meant to provoke a reaction from the audience—one that is then recorded and shared in a live stream on the artist's personal website.The subjects of Datuna's artwork are often flags—storied symbols of patriotism—that intend to challenge viewers about their past, present and future. Ahead of the 2008 presidential election, he had built a "pregnant flag.”In the Miami debut, over 2,000 people over the course of five days waited in line to experience the artwork.“For the new generation, this is the language," Datuna says. "[Using Google Glass] is a chance to communicate, to bridge a gap." With Google Glass, "Portrait of America" raises questions, and “the more questions we have, the more answers we get…about who we are and why, and what's next," he adds.From afar, his work appears as a sparkling red, white and blue replica of the flag. But a closer look reveals the 400 or so images, logos and newspaper clips beneath, magnified or blurred by the mosaic of concave and convex lenses. Datuna features innovators and inventions young and old, across politics and science and also art, technology and music.(The story first appeared on www.smithsonianmag.com)