It was planned as a surprise, but information about this new feature was leaked last night: Snapchat is launching an augmented reality art platform. And the first guest star is Jeff Koons.
Snapchat wanted to keep it a secret and surprise everyone, but alas, information about it was leaked. A strange “art.snapchat.com” URL has appeared, featuring a countdown to 3PM eastern time Tuesday, over a photo of Central Park appeared. And soon, some clever developers found ways to trick Snapchat’s countdown and bring light on the whole project.
We now know that Snapchat plans to roll out a new AR platform featuring art around the world, as seen from the following leaked pictures from las Vegas, Sydney and Paris.
The new AR art feature seems to work the same way special Lenses do, with an indicator that will direct users towards where the art will appear on their phone. TechCrunch was told that the new feature platform is based on technology from Cimagine, an Israeli AR startup Snapchat acquired in December. It also seems that all “art” lenses will be listed on a special SnapMap.
The launch will feature work from Jeff Koons, but other artists will be invited to join via a webform:
It seems that Snapchat had everything planned, except that some clever “hackers” ruined their surprise.
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