Serpentine and Acute Art Present Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s London Mastaba in AR

Visitors to The Serpentine Lake will now be able to view an exact virtual replica of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s final large-scale public artwork recreated in Augmented Reality by Acute Art in collaboration with the Serpentine Galleries.

The London Mastaba, Serpentine Lake, Hyde Park, 2016-2018, a temporary sculpture made of colourful stacked oil barrels, was the artists’ first major public work in the UK. The London Mastaba AR (Hyde Park) will evoke the memory of the sculpture, which floated on The Serpentine Lake for just over three months in 2018 and was accompanied by an exhibition of the artists’ work at the Serpentine Galleries. Planned before Christo’s passing in May 2020, this is an opportunity to revisit the last public work realised in Christo’s lifetime, and celebrate the memory of his and Jeanne-Claude’s visionary projects.

Visitors to The Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, can now experience The London Mastaba in Augmented Reality (AR) through the Acute Art app, which is available for free download on Apple and Android.

To view The London Mastaba AR (Hyde Park) on The Serpentine Lake:

1. Download the Acute Art app on the App Store or Google Play
(The devices supported are iPhone X or above, and Samsung Galaxy S8 or equivalent. The app requires a phone with a minimum of 4GB of memory and Apple iOS 11 or Android 8.0 Oreo (API 24) operating system).

2. Walk to the viewing area, which is directly across from the Serpentine Lido (see the map below), on the bankside walkway. It is best experienced from the North bank of the lake, opposite the Serpentine Lido.

3. Once you’re in the viewing area and with the Acute Art app open, select ‘start experience’.

4. Click on the ‘Artwork Nearby’ pop up, which will indicate the direction of the artwork. The work will appear after approximately 20-40 seconds depending on the GPS network.

5. Share photos or videos from the app and use #Christo