The 2022 project Pride Augmented: A Celebration of Queer Art used augmented reality to place work by six LGBTQ+ artists across landmarks in London’s Soho.
Created by Snap with V.O Curations, the exhibition marked 50 years of Pride in the United Kingdom and began at 68 Old Compton Street.
A digital exhibition tied to queer geography
Visitors scanned a code with the Snapchat camera and followed a virtual guide called “The Orb.” As they moved along Old Compton Street, artworks appeared digitally on buildings and the sky shifted into the colours of the Pride flag.
The route was significant because Soho and Old Compton Street hold an established place within London’s LGBTQ+ history. The technology did not create an abstract virtual gallery; it layered contemporary work onto a physical area already shaped by queer community and memory.
The participating artists were Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Flo Brooks, Emanuel de Carvalho, Guendalina Cerruti, Bernice Mulenga and Ebun Sodipo.
Visibility without a conventional gallery
V.O Curations described the project as a celebratory and restorative space for identities that had encountered barriers in everyday life.
Augmented reality allowed the exhibition to occupy streets without constructing permanent installations. It also gave the artists access to an audience accustomed to mobile visual culture.
The format carried limitations because visitors required a compatible device and platform, but it allowed the route, architecture and digital images to function together.
Pride Augmented demonstrated how public art can exist temporarily without physical objects. Its strongest feature was the connection between the artists’ voices and the specific urban history of Soho, making location part of the work rather than a background to it.