Berlin (AFP)

A Hulk graffiti that suddenly jumps on you or a painting changing colors: in Berlin, an exhibition celebrates urban and virtual art by inviting the visitor to take possession of the works thanks to augmented reality.

Entitled "Game Over", the exhibition open until the end of the year offers visitors the opportunity to appropriate the works of some 80 artists from the Berlin collective "The Dixons" through a dedicated application.

Besides its connection to the world of video games, its title is also an allusion to the past of the 2000 square meter building, a former disused casino.

"We are trying to bring together the right artists who will continue to develop and evolve creatively and ultimately enable them to get new ideas and creative processes," Jörn Reiners, artist told AFP. and one of the curators of the exhibition.

"After all these months without culture due to the health crisis with a world that has become darker, we have finally made a little color appear, not only in our lives, but also, we hope, in those of the visitors", adds -he.

A visitor looks at a portrait of German artist Anne Bengard in augmented reality on a tablet, during the "Game Over" exhibition, October 5, 2021 in Berlin John MACDOUGALL AFP

- Application -

In this minimalist place, the very graphic works in often garish colors stand out more and aim to question the relationship to reality.

But the exhibition is more than just an urban art show: thanks to a specially developed application, visitors can experience analog works of art in a completely new way.

The work "The Last Goodbye" by the Crooshino collective at the "Game Over" exhibition, October 5, 2021 in Berlin John MACDOUGALL AFP

For example, all you have to do is point your camera at the black and white comic book characters that adorn one of the exhibition rooms to suddenly rediscover them in three dimensions.

The works are then distorted, recolored and sometimes mobile.

After the fall of the Wall, Berlin became one of the world capitals of urban culture and in particular of graffiti, visible in all areas of the city.

History and graffiti, for example, go hand in hand throughout the East Side Gallery, an open-air museum in downtown Berlin where artists from all over the world painted several blocks of the old wall after the country's reunification .

A guide presents the work "Imagine You Could See All the Colors" by Herr von Bias at the "Game Over" exhibition, October 5, 2021 in Berlin John MACDOUGALL AFP

Some places, such as an old disused site once used by the US NSA counter-intelligence services, are entirely dedicated to this culture.

© 2021 AFP