Augmented Chicago: Inaugural Realities showcases the innovative works of four internationally celebrated Chicago-based artists, Claire Ashley, Faheem Majeed, Yvette Mayorga and Carlos Rolón, pioneering the use of Augmented Reality (AR) for the first time in the vibrant setting of Millennium Park. This exhibition invites visitors to experience a groundbreaking fusion of technology and artistry, transforming the Park's landscape into a dynamic canvas of digital creativity. By highlighting AR as a new tool and medium in the world of public art, these artists explore new dimensions of interaction, engagement, and expression, offering a fresh perspective on the urban environment.

 Claire Ashley with audioscape by Joshua Patterson

N O M A D I C F L U O R A T I C P H Y L O S I A N S P A W N, 2024

 Scottish born, Chicago-based artist Ashley mines the language of painterly abstraction, monumental sculpture, and slapstick humor to investigate inflatables as painting, sculpture, installation and performance costume. Currently a teacher at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries, museums, site-specific installations, and performances events.

 In N O M A D I C F L U O R A T I C P H Y L O S I A N S P A W N, viewers encounter four apparitions, experienced here over one calendar year, responding to the shifting seasonal color palette of Millennium Park’s Lurie Gardens.

• Spring: A single apparition grows. The mother form stretches and elongates, birthing its spawn, grumbling as it spits them out.

• Summer: Multiple apparitions vibrate. The mother and spawn sway, float, shudder, vibrate, spin, roll, and feast, bubbling and boiling in a whirling dervish-like motion.

• Fall: The apparitions slow down. The mother and spawn merge, clicking back together into a new lumpier formation.

• Winter: A single apparition hibernates. It snores, snuggles, stretches, and yawns. Crystalline growths appear, beginning the regeneration process for spring.