International Artist JR Links with Superblue and Niantic to Launch Metaverse Project ‘JR Reality’

Superblue, the groundbreaking experimental art platform, has recently announced the launch of JR Reality by internationally acclaimed artist JR.

Powered by Niantic, the creator of Pokémon GO, the new app will enable participants to post a “portrait or personal memory to a particular location, leaving behind digital touchpoints for others to uncover for years to come.”

Smartphone users can join JR’s “metaverse” experience through the Superblue app but only in certain residencies. The scheme, which has been billed as the first AR community network, is set to be rolled out in London, Paris, Miami and Los Angeles in the coming months. “It’s time to go outside and explore; reconnect with one another and show the world your face again,” JR says in a statement.

Since 2013, JR’s Inside Out Project has turned the world into a public canvas, giving visibility and agency to almost half a million people in 140 countries to date. Now, alongside Superblue, JR hopes to go one step further, launching an even larger platform which will connect communities around the world through a virtual journal filled with personal stories in physical places.    

“Since launch, Superblue has established itself as the leader in the field of experiential art, working with some of today’s most renowned artists such as Es Devlin, DRIFT, A.A. Murakami, Glenn Kaino and Yinka Ilori,” explains Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, co-Founder and CEO of Superblue. “We are continually pushing boundaries with digital technologies to create shared, participatory experiences and we are thrilled to launch JR Reality as the first of many projects that exemplify our ongoing commitment to developing augmented and virtual reality opportunities for artists to expand their art with cities as their canvases.”

JR Reality is accessible now via the Superblue app, which is free and available to download on iOS and Android devices via closed Beta in San Francisco. For users looking to give JR Reality and the Superblue app a test run, there is a private waitlist to join through the Superblue site.