Known for his work on Spike Jonzeu2019s Her and the TV series Adventure Time, animator and designer David Ou2019Reillyu2019s first foray into apps is a bewildering affair in which users watch a free-floating mountain slowly evolve over time. Sounds simple, and it is. But itu2019s also a deeply hypnotic, philosophical and beautifully crafted work that feels like a clash between Studio Ghibli and Samuel Beckett.”Image Credits:Maria Ly (opens in a new window) / Flickr (opens in a new window) under a CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new window) license.A messaging app with a difference, where instead of missives going direct to a friend, they go to a different Somebody user near by, to be delivered in person.u00a0Created by artist and filmmaker Miranda July, who describes her work as a u201cpublic art project that incites performance and twists our love of avatars and outsourcingu201d, this app encourages random face-to-face interaction and introduces elements of theatre, risk and chance into our device-mediated social lives.”
Acclaimed US artist Jody Zellen is known for her range of digital and app-based works. This, her seventh, is based on an interactive gallery installationu00a0she created last year and connects animated clips to random sounds, whichu00a0can be scaled, repositioned and muted to create a collage of overlappingu00a0visual and sonic elements.
“A cross between gaming and storytelling, the latest work from the art collective Blast Theory is a life-coaching app with a twist. Karen asks questions about your outlook and experiences, but as the narrative unfolds, you realise she has few boundaries between her personal and professional life, and seems to know things about you that she shouldnu2019t. Your new coach is in fact profiling you, giving advice based on your answers as well as the data scraped from your mobile, and things arenu2019t turning out as youu2019d expectedu2026″This dream-like app by Erik Loyer turns your device in to a skylight on a rainy day, with gathering storm-clouds, passenger jets flying overhead, and drops of rain landing on your screen. By touching the individual raindrops you can turn them into words or phrases that form part of a larger narrative that tells the story of a man in the middle of a family crisis. It is a thoughtful, reflective and ultimately, very moving, piece of art.”Produced by artapp pioneer Scott Snibbe, who recently worked with Bjork on her Biopphilia project, this simple interactive app lets you draw with stars that respond to the u2018gravityu2019 created when you touch the screen, which in turn produces strange and beautiful abstract patterns that can be saved to your photos and shared via social media.”Essentially a pastiche of social apps, Pplkpr (pronounced u2018people keeperu2019) was created by artist-programmers Lauren McCarthy and Kyle McDonald, and works as a functional app while also saying something about the way we increasingly rely on technology to organise our friendships. Using a heart-rate wristband and prompting manual entries, it tracks your emotional responses to being with different friends and then uses the data to u2018optimiseu2019 your social life accordingly, recommending those who make you feel good, and suggesting you u2018deleteu2019 those who donu2019t!”Another dip into the world of abstraction, Austrian video artist and media designer, Rainer Kohlbergeru2019s audio-visual app generates its imagery via the input from your phone or tablet camera, which reacts to the light and colours in the environment to produce a self-generating artwork made up of tones, sounds and geometric patterns.”With a visual style that has been compared to the works of M.C. Escher, this app was named Appleu2019s best iPad game of 2014 and has sold over 2.5 million copies. The actual gameplay is minimal and involves guiding a princess through a series of optical illusions and impossible landscapes, but such is the beauty of its visual and sound design, it represents a standout work of art in its own right. Images of your progress can be captured and shared via social media.”This app is a re-issue of the original 1980u2019s video game, which was at the time considered one of the first examples of the u2018art gameu2019 genre. The strange dystopian narrative tells the story of a child born in a machine and his journey through its labyrinthine interior. It features voiceover performances from the likes of former Doctor Who, John Pertwee, comedian Frankie Howerd and legendary musician Ian Dury. And itu2019s very odd indeed. Ben Murray is Editor of The Space, a commissioning and development programme supporting greater digital access to the arts, established by the BBC and ArtsCouncil. The Space co-commissioned Karen by Blast Theory currently available on iOS, and soon on Android.”
What do you look for in an app? It might be something useful that helps to organise your life, it might be to connect with friends and family, or perhaps it’s a diverting game to while away the daily commute. But would you ever look for art on the App Store? Stepping beyond the gallery, artists have been making fruitful use of the medium for some time now to produce a range of artapps that do the kind of things art is supposed to do: entertain, inspire, confound and provoke. Here’s a guide to ten of the best.
