Luzidlab: We want to develop immersive experiences for the good of society

Luzidlab converted itself, in just a few days, as the new collaborator of Poblenou Urban District. We interviewed them to better understand their various professional facets. Who they are, how they work and getting to know the new projects they’ll share from now on with the community of Poblenou Urban District

Giles Pooley and Mike Van der Noordt, CEOs and co-founders of Luzidlab met each other working for another company, and both of them wanted to improve their working conditions. Above all, they both wanted to come up with a new way of training and managing a creative team. Following that, in 2020, Luzidlab was born. A collective of artists formed by 25 people world-wide, and with more than 15 years of experience in their field. Photography production, audiovisual, augmented reality and virtual production, with profiles in marketing, architects, music composer, scriptwriter, etc. A multidisciplinary and flexible team. 

Since starting working together, they have collaborated in more than 16 international projects, animations and virtual spaces, in marketing and other modalities for businesses from all other the globe. Mostly, they work on projects they know will have a positive impact on society, focusing on artistic and cultural projects connected to the social sector. This vision is part of their manifesto and their way of interpreting this collective they belong to. 

They are proud to say they work under the umbrella of immersive projects: something you can interact with, where you’ll experience something different. 

“Until today, we are developing apps, animations and marketing, but we want to go further. Here’s when AR-DE enters” states Mike. 

“AR-DE inherently includes the concepts of community, the city and the neighborhood. It’s the most identitarian project we’ve worked on until now. We want to develop immersive experiences for the good of society” specifies Giles. 

“We are the grey area between Art and Technology” adds Mike smiling.  

  • What’s your contribution within AR-DE?

Giles: AR-DE is the first project we will do in collaboration with the Poblenou Urban District and for this we are developing an immersive experience with augmented reality. Something a little bit different than usual. In the next months, our relation will be mostly bound to that and to other projects with Poblenou Urban District.  

  • And what’s your participation like with Poblenou Urban District? What are the current projects?

Giles: AR-DE is the new project, but we’ll also participate in the Urban Talks, where Mike will talk about the platform he developed and with which we’ll get to experiment with augmented reality called “Digital Canvas” (a spin-off of the AR-DE app).

We’re also developing an idea for Off Llum, an installation, using the same technology, which will be an artistic experience that we will do with artists from Luzidlab. A restoration of the idea of the Metaverse and the Multiverse, of what is beyond us. 

In March, Mike wants to mount a workshop to explain to various artists the functioning of the platform “Digital Canvas” and help them create artworks for this new platform. The idea would be to build an exhibition in May with all the works from the artists in a physical space.

  • Explain what this app consists of? How does it work?

Mike: This app, named AR-DE, includes a map to localize the various participating spaces to the circuit. Each one of these locations will have its own experience of augmented reality. An artwork in the form of an extinguisher will be customized specially for each of the spaces with different colors and textures. 

The user will get to see, through a huge poster including an illustrated code, a work of augmented reality in movement. Capturing an artwork in an app and virtually in the street at the same time. 

  • And how do you think this app will influence the art world? What role does augmented reality have on an artistic level currently or in the future?

It’s the first time we are using this technology in real life and with this platform prototype, we are launching a new technology. We’re not doing anything artistic with this app, if not defining the bases for a new way of interpreting and experimenting art.  

We are creating a new media. Until now, we were mostly working with painting, photography, escupture, etc, But now the digital world is offering all sorts of new opportunities, that include augmented reality. Our platform, as it’s called “Canva”, is the alliance of these two worlds. There the artists will get to express what they want. We are developing a new platform to express art, but adding another dimension, another language, and other means. With this platform we now have much more tools to express and give life to art. You can now create interactive art, create a story… We are thinking big. You can paint a whole building, such as the Sagrada Familia or the Ayuntamiento if you wish to do so. This platform is opening the doors of a new world, unthinkable until today.