See UFO take off! Digital flying saucer heralds arrival of Manchester Plinth
- Visitors to MMU able to view a digital flying saucer taking off
- Project aims to improve lives of Mancunians by tackling isolation in older people and boosting green travel
A new art installation in a Manchester park allows people to watch a flying saucer take off and land using their smart phones.
The Manchester Plinth in All Saints Park at MMU is part of a futuristic ‘smart city’ project by art students which uses augmented reality.
The plinth is part of a wider project organised by CityVerve aimed at improving the lives of Mancunians by tackling loneliness in older people and boosting green travel.
Head of MMU school of architecture, Tom Jefferies, said: “The Manchester Plinth is a new cultural initiative establishing a space between the real and virtual,. The plinth allows the audience to explore cultural artefacts in entirely new ways.
A ‘Buzzin’ app allows users to experience Manchester with augmented reality for the first time with an unlimited choice of points of interest.
Karolina Skyut from CityVerve said: “The project is the first of its kind in the UK and we aim to revolutionise and champion new ways of engaging with museum artefacts in a virtual reality both locally and globally.
“This initiative shows how technology can enhance the way we see the world around us, and how we can interact with it to improve our daily lives. We’re taking these artefacts out of their traditional museum setting and placing them in the public realm – further increasing their accessibility and introducing them to a wider audience to discover and enjoy.”
The project will continue to be developed over the next six months and is due to expand across different locations on Oxford Road.