Art+Com are a design company who work within the digital realms, from the futuristic BMW Welt to the streets of Tokyo, connecting virtual worlds with a hands-on tactility. The company’s aim is "to explore the future of all new media, of whatever discipline, and to implement them in project applications”. Formed in 1988, Art+Com create high-tech interfaces for galleries and museum environments, where user interaction is at the forefront.Just like Science Fiction writers, Art+Com envision scenarios that transcend time, visualising and creating worlds from the past and the future. For the recently opened BMW Welt in Munich, Art+Com were responsible for what they refer to as the “Mediatecture”. The interior walls of the Product Info Center are in fact L.E.D screens, and within the design of the building the architecture itself becomes media, instead of just walls becoming screens for projections. In the animations, Art+Com have re-mixed historical images to new effects. The visitors also trigger the images to change, creating a unique experience. Users can also test the car's capabilities with the simulated multi-media driving experience.

Simulated Driving at BMW Welt
Other work also involves issues of mobility. For the OSRAM Seven Screens in Munich, “Reactive Sparks” focuses on the movement of passing vehicles. Every passing car is individually tracked and triggers a reaction on the traffic stelae that is clearly comprehensible to both drivers and passers-by. The main topic of the installation is energy. The movement of the passing vehicles is interpreted as a metaphor for life energy, as an expression of activity and lives.
Seven Screens react to to drivers
Going back in time, in Berlin's Museum of Natural History they developed the “juroscope”, a device that allows visitors to see dinosaurs from the Jurrasic age on the rampage through the Museum halls! Visitors focus the device on the real display skeletons, which then grow organs, muscles, and skin. The animal is brought to its natural habitat and starts moving, feeding and hunting.

Visitors view dinosaurs through the Juroscope.
Much of their work aims to present virtual experiences in the physical world. There is almost always user-interaction. In Tokyo, they designed the project “Duality” (2007) . It is a fake pond, where when one stands on a LED screen, it appears to to ripple, and then sends ripple effects off into the real pond.

Duality in TokyoArt+Com, envisioning the future through design and making the fantastic real!