AR app adds people of old Hong Kong to your photos of the modern city
- Using augmented reality, Japanese new-media artist Masaki Fujihata superimposes scenes from the 1950s onto your photos of Wan Chai
- App users must hunt for real-world logos to collect all 48 scenes
Japanese new-media artist Masaki Fujihata is always full of whimsical ideas, and his latest creation is no exception: an augmented reality (AR) app that lets Hong Kong people travel back in time.
The engaging mobile app, called “HKACT! Act 1 BeHere”, takes users on an unconventional tour of the Wan Chai district – in the process upping their Instagram game – by providing 3D figures that can be added to photos in the same way as filters.
Scalable, spinnable and eerily real, the figures form scenarios of old Hong Kong street activities – men eating peanuts at a dai pai dong, a hairdresser cutting hair on the street, waiters balancing trays of dishes on their heads. They blend in so well with the modern environment that it creates an illusion likely to fool your social media followers.
To collect all 48 scenarios, users need to hunt for “Be Here” logos placed in 10 different areas of Wan Chai and scan them with the app like a QR code.
The idea came to the 62-year-old artist when he googled “Hong Kong 1950s” and was drawn by the buzzing street activities depicted in the range of black and white photos.