ReWildAR Video Walkthrough

This video is a 4:30 minute walkthrough of the full 4 seasons cycle of ReWildAR augmented reality installation by Tamiko Thiel and /p, 2021. It was commissioned for the 175th anniversary of the Smithsonian Institution as part of the FUTURES exhibition in the original Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building (AIB) on The Mall in Washington D.C.

Video: Edition 1 of 5 + 1 AP, Tamiko Thiel, 2021.

ReWildAR offers a vision of how Washington D.C. can be rewilded to create a thriving, sustainable environment for nature in the city. It features native plants and insects found from D.C. down to northern Florida, that therefore have a chance of surviving the rapid climate change to which we are subjecting our planet. In the future, ReWildAR breaks out of the Smithsonian building and transforms the area into a wildflower meadow.

Rewilding the city means turning all available open areas and parks, but also planting strips, rooftops and planting strips wherever possible, from carefully mono-cultivated gardens into wildflower meadows, wetlands or similarly biodiverse biotopes. This project specifically focuses on the symbiotic relationships between native flowers and insects that are necessary to preserve a diverse and healthy natural environment. This includes not just insects we love, like the Monarch butterfly, but insects that we might see as nuisances, such as large moths, and bees that (unlike the honey bee) produce no commercial benefit for us.