An art gallery called LiL Pocket Gallery on Avenue Mont Royal Ouest is doing things a bit differently for its official opening tonight.

Called Illusive Sympathy, by Cryote, the show will transform the gallery into an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) hybrid landscape. Visitors will be able to experience a mixed reality gallery using the MetaAR augmented reality headset.

“The show is an early attempt at defining AR art shows. This new format is still undefined, so we’re trying it out to see how far we can push it and discovery the new medium of AR at the same time,” Sam Arsenault-Brassard, one of the organizers of the show, told MTLinTECH. “From an architectural point of view, I’m interested in the logistics of an activity that does not really exist yet. What are the requirements of a VR art gallery an AR museum? What does an office that use AR all day look like? By diving into applied AR, we can start thinking about how our environments will change to accommodate AR capabilities.”

The artwork is a mix of paintings, wood cuts, and virtual and augmented reality art by Cryote, a street artist in Montreal.

“Finding new ways of interacting with people. Going beyond murals. Finding fresh way of approaching art. Art is creation without limitations. This allows us to create without limitations, no borders or boundaries. As soon as creative people get past initial technical limitations, they immediately jump in and create,” gallery owner Sebastian Miller (also known as Cryote) told MTLinTECH. “VR art is also relatively non-toxic compared to mural painting. I don’t have to inhale fumes when I’m working, there’s no dangerous pigments and I can paint a mural during the worst weather.”

The MetaAR headset has a field of view of 90 degrees, so it is much more immersive than the HoloLens’ field of view of 35 degrees. The artwork was created in the artist’s paint and wood shop as well as in virtual reality, a convergence of both physical and digital art.

“VA/AR is a visceral and visual mediums. They are perceptibly real 3D experiences. Artists and architects are extremely lucky to have the ability to tap into this new technology,” said Arsenault-Brassard. “Both can now create materials out of thin air. In XR, matter no longer follows traditional budgets, scale, of physical rules. They are gone, the limits evaporated. The full message of artists and architects can then be expressed directly, with fewer barriers.”

“Like most mediums, AR will change the way we experience the world. It will change how we create art, just like photography did in the last century.”

“In our case, the show is basically about that intersection. Sebastian created the real art work and it converges with the AR art work, the technology hold both together in a shaky grasp. The pieces themselves are portals to another dimension. They reference chaos, other worlds, imagination, blobs of paint and the internet.”

Illusive Sympathy opens tonight at 87 Ave du Mont-Royal O. from 6 pm until 11:30 pm.

“We hope that our excitement for the technology and art will be contagious. We hope people can go home with a slightly altered vision of reality. We hope people get excited about the near future and can start imagining how it will change their world. We want to hit a nerve and confirm a thirst for extended-reality art.”