Serpentine Galleries

Augmented Architecture builds on the legacy of the annual Serpentine Pavilion by connecting the Serpentine’s expertise in commissioning new architecture with its work in the field of advanced technologies. The first Augmented Architecture commission was awarded to Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen. The Deep Listener by Jakob Kudsk Steensen was an audio-visual ecological trail through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, the area surrounding the Serpentine Galleries. Designed as an augmented reality and spatial audio work downloadable as an app for mobile devices, it was both a site-specific public artwork and a digital archive of species that live within the park. The Deep Listener invited visitors to be guided on a journey to both see and hear the sights and sounds of five of London’s species: London Plane Trees, Bats, Parakeets, Azure Blue Damselflies and Reedbeds. Working in collaboration with the artist, Jotta designed a sculpture that acted as the start point of the digital AR experience; a bridge between the physical and virtual.