Category: The Overlay, a Shared Layer of Digital Material

Look­ing at AR, VR, XR, any other‑R, or even dig­i­tal holog­ra­phy, no mat­ter the medi­um, and no mat­ter the hype, there is an unshak­en urge: to man­i­fest what's not phys­i­cal­ly there (most­ly dig­i­tal imagery) like it's anoth­er lay­er over real­i­ty. It's as if we want­ed mag­ic to become man­i­fest ("mag­ic" is a wide­spread anal­o­gy in this indus­try), only human-made and com­put­er gen­er­at­ed. Now most expe­ri­ences relat­ing to this are soli­tary ones. But let's sus­pend eco­nom­ic fea­si­bil­i­ty, and spec­u­late there comes a cen­tral plat­form where — whether through gog­gles, lens­es, or what­ev­er shines your moon — we end up view­ing a shared dig­i­tal lay­er. One where you can see dig­i­tal cat ears on your friend's head. And oth­ers can too. Or where the "100% organ­ic" label dances around the can of beans. Beau­ty fil­ters, but no phone is need­ed. Cap­tions, like every­thing is a muse­um. Fire­balls you can throw at passers-by. Wayfind­ing sys­tems. Notes you leave for friends, or foes etc. You could call this a 'world-can­vas,' some call it aug­ment­ed real­i­ty, or oth­er names, and it used to be an impor­tant vision for cyber­space. But we just go with 'The Over­lay.' And it leaves new ques­tions open, like: what do peo­ple wear when the dig­i­tal is also a mate­r­i­al? Are there ads every­where? Can you fil­ter things and peo­ple out? How is dig­i­tal, yet land-bound real-estate man­aged? How blur­ry can the lim­it between real and vir­tu­al get? Would it mat­ter? And so on…