A path of hyperlinks towards a phygital exploration
September 2020
ETSAM Architecture School, MACA University Master in Architectural Communication
Tutors: María Goicoechea de Jorge, Natasa Lekkou
The thesis is about the phygital artifact in social media, focusing on Instagram as a platform that can be perceived as a new art gallery. The term “phygital” examines the hybrid state of an artifact that belongs to both worlds, existing with its own materiality physically, but at the same time is being subjected to a post-digitalization process, operating in a realm of pure imagination and endless possibilities. It examined how young creators represent digitally their physical artifacts on Instagram, as they exceed the limits of a simple photo or video by experimenting with new 3D and AR tools. Part of the investigation was to experiment with a kind of phygital artifact, so a complementary phygital book was created. This project is associated with a hybrid of digital and analogue media. Some features can only be revealed through specific digital layers and some important written information is only contained in the printed version. All the drawings in the physical book can be scanned through the app Augmenta. On the device appears another photo or video, that leads to other web links. Therefore, to fully understand the project you need 3 elements: the printed book, a smartphone and the application of Augmenta. The Complementary Phygital Book does only exist as a combination of the above components, although the printed book by itself can still be readable and understandable.