IN PICTURES: New augmented reality artwork trail launches in Scarborough

Created by Wild Eye, Scarborough’s innovative art and nature programme delivered by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Invisible Dust, Ambiguous Machines is a new digital artwork in Scarborough by renowned multidisciplinary artist Shezad Dawood, in collaboration with award-winning, Yorkshire-based author Daisy Hildyard.

The augmented reality (AR) trail, accessed via QR codes at three sites along Scarborough’s seafront, envisions a future where Scarborough is underwater and humans and marine species have co-evolved to become hybrids.

Developed through dialogue with local scientists, conservationists, and community groups—including Scarborough Sixth Form College and the University of Hull— Wild Eye invites audiences to meet digital characters inspired by real-life local conservationists, including a shrimp, post-human whale and seaweed being.

Audiences can become further immersed in this newly imagined world through an accompanying short fiction entitled The Aquarium, written by Daisy Hildyard.

Together, they weave science, storytelling, myth and local knowledge into an interactive work that playfully explores the future of UK coastal environments in the wake of rising sea levels caused by climate change.

Jason Saunby, Head of Creatives Faculty at Scarborough Sixth Form College, said: “The 6th form students found it interesting to be introduced to Shezad and Daisy's work and found it a rich starting point for their own creativity and enjoyed the two way process of feeding ideas on future local marine ecosystems and game worldbuilding into the project.”

Magnus Johnson, Scarborough-based marine biologist and lecturer at the University of Hull, said: "Sometimes as scientists we get bogged down in the day-to-day jobs of researching and teaching which are often incremental processes.

“The joy of working with artists like Shezad is that they encourage us to lift our eyes to the horizon, remember the fascination and joy that got us into science in the first place and encourage us to consider the broader picture.

“Shezad's work in particular, playfully uses a modern artistic vocabulary to make us all consider the terrifying challenge of climate change and what its implications could be for our marine ecosystems and the species that are essential moving parts in them.”

Ambiguous Machines is the fourth commission, and first digital work, in the Wild Eye art and nature trail. Connecting with existing permanent sculptural works by artists Ryan Gander, Juneau Projects and Paul Morrison in Scarborough and Whitby, the Wild Eye trail will be completed in March 2025 by two final commissions: a new seawatching station along Marine Drive with Roman-style floor mosaic artwork by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, and a series of sculptural resting spaces for humans and other species by artist Emma Smith along Scarborough’s Cinder Track.

Together the works create a powerful and thought-provoking contemporary art and nature trail that celebrates local nature, wildlife and marine life.

Wild Eye is funded by the Towns Fund drawn from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government administered through North Yorkshire Council and supported by the Scarborough Town Board, specifically assigned to the development of a nature, art and culture offer in Scarborough. The funding aims to promote year-round tourism and assist with local economic regeneration.