A cross-continental bike journey impressed a zero-cost, AR-powered The Gratitude Forest in Kerala

Just a few years in the past, Sunil Kaushik, an Indian innovation advisor, together with Japanese artist-writer Yuka Yokozawa, undertook an formidable 500-day biking journey from Thailand to Portugal. As they travelled throughout 17 nations and 38 borders, the duo confronted quite a few challenges, together with getting misplaced in an Iranian desert, experiencing the 2016 Turkish coup try, and encountering a terrorist incident in Maçka, Turkey. However, the duo saved at it, and Yuka documented their travels in a memoir, Golden Hearts On The Road.

“After finishing our cross-continental journey, we settled within the forested area of Wayanad, Kerala. We discovered a small plot of land with a waterfall and over 300 timber, and we had been searching for an easier, sustainable way of life near Nature,” says Sunil. This website is now dwelling to the Augmented Reality (AR)-powered The Gratitude Forest. Sunil explains that they had been impressed by the generosity and kindness that they had encountered from over 200 households throughout their biking journey. “We then got down to create an artwork set up of their forest as a tribute to those ‘golden hearts’. The preliminary imaginative and prescient was to arrange a Golden Hearts Museum that concerned bodily displaying portraits and tales of our hosts on timber all through their property.”

However, the distinctive surroundings of Wayanad — that’s liable to eight months of heavy rainfall and common visits from native wildlife, particularly monkeys — proved difficult. “When we first started establishing bodily shows that included hanging laminated images, small frames, or written tales from the timber, monkeys noticed these as curious new toys. The installations had been incessantly broken or destroyed, and we had been reluctant to make use of paper or plastic. These sensible and environmental obstacles led us to rethink our method and search for a sustainable various,” says Sunil, who determined to show to AI, and began brainstorming with generative AI instruments in 2023. “As we mentioned our limitations with ChatGPT and Copilot, we realised {that a} digital, non-invasive answer may allow us to share all of the tales with out leaving a hint within the forest. AR appeared like the proper match: the expertise allowed us to create a museum the place guests may use their telephones to ‘see’ digital pages, illustrations, and motifs hanging from the timber, whereas leaving the true panorama utterly untouched.”

The financials this challenge required pushed the duo to study all about AR utilizing “open-source assets, free on-line tutorials, and many trial and error”. Sunil says this course of was daunting at first as neither of them “had written a line of code earlier than this challenge. But in the long run, it allowed us to maintain the spirit of the museum private, versatile, and true to our authentic imaginative and prescient,” says Sunil, including that The Gratitude Forest was constructed at a zero value. “The complete course of took shut to 6 months, and went by a number of modifications. In the tip, we had generated roughly 10,000 strains of code,” says Sunil who focussed on the challenge’s technical growth, whereas Yuka was on the creative and cultural aspect. “She chosen the Japanese kanji motifs (drawing from Shinto traditions that honour Nature) and matched every kanji character to particular timber, contemplating the surroundings and the which means. She additionally ensured that the calligraphy and motif placement contributed to a harmonious and reflective forest expertise,” provides Sunil.

Since The Gratitude Forest is a non-public set up, Sunil says it’s invite-only at current. “We recurrently obtain requests on social media from folks taken with experiencing the challenge, and we’re at all times completely satisfied to rearrange a private tour for individuals who attain out. Over the final 12 months, we’ve welcomed a number of dozen company together with native residents, travellers, artists, and technologists who’ve skilled the set up firsthand,” he provides. 

While the remoteness and wildness are a part of what make the expertise distinctive, Sunil says they’re actively methods to make the set up extra accessible and user-friendly. “Our aim is to put in clones of the artwork, every customised for the place and story it comes from. We’re presently in dialogue with modern museums, open areas, neighborhood centres, and artwork galleries throughout a number of nations the place our tales originated.” This listing consists of Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. “We’re hopeful that by the tip of this 12 months, guests in a number of of those nations will have the ability to expertise the installations in their very own native contexts,” says Sunil, who says the challenge continues to be in its early phases of public rollout in India. 

Going ahead, the couple hopes to increase The Gratitude Forest past their very own story. “We hope to ask authors, artists, and eco-conscious landowners to create their very own storytelling areas, rooted of their distinctive cultures and experiences. Ultimately, we think about these immersive installations showing in public parks and open areas, making tales of generosity and shared historical past accessible to everybody,” concludes Sunil.