Chandelier AR (2024) explores how biomaterials and augmented reality art can impact sustainability and the circular economy in the wine industry. Dumitriu has created an intricate hand-made chandelier installation using wine waste, specifically biotextiles made using spolied wine and feccia (final grape pressing) kombucha SCOBY (symbiotic cultures of yeast and bacteria), and bio-plastics and bio-composites from wine waste (grape marc and vine clippings) – all from scratch.
The biomaterials have been cast into forms inspired by photogrammetry scans from the winery of project collaborators Marco Felluga/Russiz Superiore in Italy.
The chandelier triggers a generative augmented reality app #artandwineAR that gives every user a unique experience. It is accompanied by a sonification of fermentation data produced by IoT corks in barrels at the Marco Felluga winery. The IoT corks have been created by collaborating technology company BUBAMARA-V from Serbia. The AR app development was undertaken by Alex May. Dumitriu has also produced an open source wine waste biomaterials recipe book. The project has been created as part of the EU STARTS Better Factory: Internet of Art and Wine (IoWA) Project.
BioMaterials from Wine Waste
Recipes for creating biomaterials (bio-plastics and bio-composites) from wine waste have been released in an open source booklet “How to Create Biomaterials from Wine Waste” to enable other artists and designers to work with these materials. Recipes can also be found on GitHub.
Anna Dumitriu is also able to offer biomaterials workshops where participants can experiment with the possibilities of working with wine waste materials to create their own unique biomaterials.
The video below shows taste of some of the biomaterials, bioplastics and biocomposites that Anna Dumitriu has experimented with during her EU Better Factory Project with the IoWA KTE.
Dumitriu also collaborated with materials scientist Gary Cass to explore bio-cellulose foam materials.
Augmented Reality Artwork
Download the app for Apple iOS devices here
Download the app for Android devices here
This generative augmented reality artwork by Anna Dumitriu explores the story of the circular economy in the wine industry. Reveal your unique generative artwork by holding your device in front of Dumitriu’s installation “Chandelier” or over the label of a bottle of Collio Bianco “Molamatta” DOC Marco Felluga wine.
Users can watch as leaves, vines, smart corks, and barrels dance in the round in augmented reality to highlight the importance of sustainability and the circular economy in the wine industry. Each element in the augmented reality artwork has been photogrammetry scanned from an actual physical object at the Marco Felluga winery in Italy.
The AR app is accompanied by a soundtrack produced by a sonification of data from the IoT smart corks which BUBAMARA-V have installed in barrels at Marco Felluga and Russiz Superiore wineries to track the fermentation process, this is combined with the sounds of bees, birds, rainfall and waves in the sea on the nearby coast. These are seen by the winery as indicators of the impact of climate change and the health of the environment.
Each individual device running the app reveals its own unique generative artwork.
Users can capture photos of their unique artwork using the photo button and share them on Instagram with the hashtag #artandwineAR @artandwinear @annadumitriuart
Outcomes and Exhibitions
The opening ceremony of the project with the artist took place at Russiz Superiore Winery in Italy on 25th July 2024 at 6:30pm.
The project was demonstrated as part of Phoenix Art Space Open Studios, Brighton, UK, during the Brighton Festival on 10th – 12th May 2024.
Media
An interview with the Better Factory: Internet of Art and Wine (IoWA) team by Charlotte Tucker from Better Factory was published in July 2023. Read it here.
“ANNA DUMITRIU: Exploring the Intersection Between Art and Science in Unveiling the Unseen” is an interview by Michela Ventin for DESIGN DECODE Magazine, May 2024 (Italy) which features Anna Dumitriu’s work with the EU Better Factory project.
A final video bringing together outputs and comments from the Better Factory IoWA Team has also been produced.
Inspiration
Funding
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 951813.
