A series of cheeky Augmented Reality (AR) characters designed by local steel-city artists are dotted in 15 locations across Sheffield City Centre from today. Following on from their hugely successful first AR event in 2019, The Children’s Media Conference (CMC) is bringing back ‘Playground’ in the form of an interactive digital art experience for children and families.
Established in 2016, the award-winning ‘Playground’ is an exhibition where children can imagine, investigate, create art and have fun. This year’s offering is ‘Urban Dwellers’, a fantastical interactive digital art experience. The trail features 15 AR artworks and animated installations from legendary Sheffield artists TADO and Lisa O’Hara.
The collaborators have scattered their exclusive artworks across 15 city-centre locations. Families can track down characters using the Playground Map and by downloading the Artivive App. Once downloaded, open the app, point your device at the plaque standing 1-2m away and watch the characters come to life!
TADO are known for creating fantastical, colourful and adorable pop-characters and Lisa O’Hara draws inspiration from the whimsical, bright and silly. Both collaborators have had recognised success in large-scale public art prior to the CMC project, so families might just recognise the style they’ll be looking for!
The characters can be found lurking around the following sites:
- Site Gallery
- Showroom Cinema
- Motore Café
- Millennium Gallery
- Fred Aldous
- Sheffield Cathedral
- Orchard Square
- Steam Yard
- Weston Park Museum
- Moor Market Foodhall
- Sheffield Winter Gardens
- Mow’s Coffee
- The Crucible
- Sheffield Hallam Owen Building
- Sheffield’s Children’s Library
Funded by the UK Government and with support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Urban Dwellers character hunt is suitable for 5–12-year-olds but everyone is welcome free of charge.
Darren Chouings, Producer of The Urban Dwellers / Playground AR Character Hunt, said: “Children and families are invited to explore and celebrate imagination whilst being inspired by cutting-edge artwork in our interactive character hunt.
“The augmented reality artwork and animated installations will be truly inspiring, and we cannot thank TADO and Lisa O’Hara enough for their incredible creations! We are also very thankful that the character hunt has been funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.”
The magical characters and creations are waiting to be discovered around the steel-city from 3rd-30th of June.
