Nadine Kolodziey Creator Spotlight
As we continue with our creator spotlight series, this week we are highlighting Nadine Kolodziey, an independent XR artist based in Frankfurt and Berlin. She works at the intersection of digital and analog with the goal of creating visual experiences, combining materials such as plastic and pixels to create work that is hand-cut, melted, or transformed into walkable augmented reality environments. She’s interested in new challenges, deep-diving in AR, and doing big-scale installations as well as projects in Japan in the future. Kolodziey worked for clients like Apple, Aerie, Google, Youtube, Page and die Zeit — she is one of the Adobe Creative Residents and an Alumni at Deutsche Studienstiftung.
She walked us through a day in the life, provided incredible insight and advice for aspiring AR creators, and opened up about the challenges and benefits of being a creator.
Do you have any advice for viewers who are looking to get started in AR creation?
“My advice for everyone starting with AR is that everything is possible. Especially working with a new medium like this one, there is no legacy or right way to do things. This very explorative first stage of AR development is providing a lot of freedom. Choose the platform you feel most comfortable with, check with the crowd using this platform: Often the communities are very warm hearted and supportive. This is a shared treasure worth being a part of!”
What does the typical day of a creator look like?
“Personally, I like a very structured working day, especially this year I established fixed working hours to prevent me from overworking. As an artist who loves their work, it is easy to jump into new projects constantly. So this time frame gives me the best working environment: 10–19 Is my working time. I commute between Berlin and Frankfurt in Germany and I have two studios, one in each city.
I will arrive at the studio at 9 or 9:30 a.m. to get an overview of my to-dos for the day before starting at 10. Usually, I have two meeting blocks: One around 11 and one around 15. The rest of the time I get really soaked into my projects and enjoy being very explorative with my design process, combining different platforms and mediums from installation to create classic Instagram effects. Often you will find me outdoors testing and recording the effects or collecting textures for my 3D materials.”
What is your favorite part of the creation process?
“I really enjoy the start of a project, when nothing is there yet and also the very last moment, when you do the very last pencil stroke/click of the export or upload button and it is finished -very satisfying. Also the research on sight, especially when creating geolocated Effects or Projects is quite rewarding since my work is costume-made for this place and a union of both worlds is happening. The same goes for the first test of an AR effect outdoors, it always feels a bit like magic.”
What are some challenges you face during the creation process?
“I think the biggest challenge is when a developer team will take over your work to embed it (for example in group exhibitions or group projects where one app is used for all AR Experiences) and the materials or functions are not working as I planned them to. This back-and-forth of testing can be draining.
Another challenge is to keep up with the constant changes and technical innovations in the field of AR. Most of the time they are improving the creation process, but still you have to constantly learn to unlearn in order to keep up with the status quo.”
What are some benefits of being an AR creator?
“The freedom to control everything from lights, sound, physics, haptical feedback, responsiveness- There are so many options to tell your story and create a true immersion, that is possibly the biggest benefit. And secondly I adore that I have all my creations always with me, ready to turn the current here-and-now reality into something very different. Coming from classical installations this is of course a huge benefit.”
How did you get started?
“My master’s degree is in classic fine arts and my university in Germany had a very not technical perspective on things. I was always interested in creating installations, places, and experiences rather than images- so after my graduation, I applied for the Adobe Creative residency ( 2018/2019.)
The project I pitched to them was to transfer my installations into the digital world and learn AR from scratch. Back then I was not aware how big this theme would be a few years later- So I was actually lucky to start with it quite early, beta testing some of the software I use now on a daily basis and with a strong personal connection to the developer teams. It really felt like the Wild West: a not yet explored universe of new possibilities.”
How do you see the future of AR evolving, and what role do you think AR creators will play in shaping that future?
“For me working with augmented reality means having an almost universal prism of story-telling possibilities within one experience. This said, it indicates that it has the potential to change the way we educate, communicate and illustrate almost every part of life.
Most of all, it gives back authority to the users who interact with it and make it their own take/memory/version. This is a very personal and ‘real’ feeling which is hard to achieve in other mediums. I think AR creation will be a part of our communication which will feel very natural and intuitive. AR Creators will be responsible for telling your very individual story in the most immersive and exciting ways through all fields.”
How do you approach designing and developing AR experiences for different industries and purposes, such as education, entertainment, or advertising?
“Since my projects range from advertisement, education, free artistic work, and explorative research, I think especially the mix of purposes is making the singular experiences better.
I will choose the platform I develop with regarding which kind of experience I want to go for: Will it be geolocated? Will the focus be on a place (ex. a museum or monument)? Will it be playable for a short time or a long time? Will the users spend a lot of time in them or will they jump into it on the go?
All those questions are shaping my experience and working on different fields/ for different industries teaches me, what is possible and where to find it. This orientation gives my work the experience and credibility to be very well custom fitted for the occasion/topic.
Also, my free artistic work fuels the more applied requests I receive: Since the free work is very wild, free, and authentic it is often sparking the inspiration of potential partners, searching for something special to offer to their audience.”
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest AR technology and trends, and incorporate them into your work?
“I subscribe to a lot of relevant newsletters and AR developers, and I attend a lot of talks, symposiums, and conferences to stay up to date. Another helpful part is to be a member of different relevant associations, artist networks, and think tanks in order to discuss and exchange about recent developments and questions. This happens through different platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, clubhouse, newsletters, Slack, Discord, and so on.”
To learn more about Nadine Kolodziey and to see her work, visit the social channel and website below:
Instagram Profile: https://www.instagram.com/nadinekolodziey/
Website: https://www.nadinekolodziey.com
