MAR – Miniera Argentiera: Sardinia's first open-air mining museum with augmented reality

On July 27-29, 2019, the MAR – Miniera Argentiera opens in Argentiera, Sardinia, as the first open-air mining museum to use augmented reality. The project, conceived by cultural association LandWorks in collaboration with nonprofit Bepart, transforms the abandoned mining village of 70 inhabitants into a cultural hub. Supported by the Municipality of Sassari, the Parco Geominerario, Storico e Ambientale della Sardegna, Fondazione Unipolis through its "culturability" call, and Fondazione di Sardegna, the museum features four physical paste-up artworks and four digital animations by artists Francesco Clerici, Adolfo Di Molfetta, Milena Tipaldo, and Andrea Zucchetti, created during a two-week residency in May 2019. Visitors use the free Bepart app on smartphones or tablets to scan posters on buildings along a mapped route, triggering augmented reality animations. LandWorks, founded in 2011 by architects, organizes workshops in abandoned Sardinian sites; after arriving in Argentiera in 2015, they developed the long-term "LandWorks Plus" project to maintain the site's productive vocation while adding cultural production. Project manager Paola Serrittu stated the goal is to make Argentiera a place for artists, students, and researchers to experiment with art, architecture, and landscape.