The New York Times Debuts Augmented Reality Experience Inviting Readers To Explore David Bowie’s Visual Legacy

  • NEW YORK, New York
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  • March 21, 2018

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Photograph from the album cover shoot for Aladdin Sane, 1973. Photograph by Brian Duffy. Photo Duffy © Duffy Archive & The David Bowie Archive

The New York Times on Wednesday debuted its latest augmented reality (AR) feature, exploring the outsized impact of David Bowie’s visual legacy. In addition to hearing from influential artists like Trent Reznor and Laurie Anderson, readers can now use their phones to project life-sized versions of Bowie’s iconic costumes into their own spaces, and to explore them as if they were physically there.

These pieces were captured photographically at the Brooklyn Museum in advance of the opening of “David Bowie is,” an exhibit now completing its five-year world tour (closing July 15, 2018).

In a first for The Times, it is now able to offer AR features to readers who use supported Android phones, including the AR experience that allow readers to meet the world-class athletes who competed during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

For these AR experiences, users will need the latest version of The New York Times app on an iPhone or iPad with iOS 11 which makes ARKit available to hundreds of millions of users. Readers can also experience the stories on Android phones that supports ARCore, available on 100M Android phones (like a Google Pixel or a Samsung Galaxy S8).

BMW, an official sponsor of “David Bowie is,” also allows readers to interact with their first ever X2 Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) in an immersive AR experience. T Brand Studio collaborated with BMW on the creative design and concept to enhance user-experience.

The BMW AR interactive, which was produced by New York Times Company experiential design agency Fake Love, is the first AR experience from an advertiser to live inside The New York Times app for Android and is accessible directly from The Times news feed. The experience is also available in iOS.

Striped bodysuit for Aladdin Sane tour, 1973. Sukita. © The David Bowie Archive.

For more information and a guide to AR at The Times, please click here.


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