Today we’re announcing our collaboration with Art d’Egypte to release 11 AR filters on Instagram for the Forever is Now II exhibition at the Pyramids of Giza. The exhibition displays avant-garde artworks and installations by a diverse group of artists — including French Artist JR, Egyptian sculptor Ahmed Karaly, Italian Artist Emilio Ferro and French-Tunisian graffiti artist El Seed — and an immersive experience of art set against the iconic backdrop of the Pyramids of Giza.  Each filter features a guide, Bastet, an animated cat inspired by the ancient Egyptian deity of the same name, who accompanies people as they explore the backstory of each art piece and its creation through immersive videos, images and illustrations — all powered by AR technology. 

“The AR/VR technology provides our creator community with infinite potential to build more meaningful, inspiring and impactful content. Through our partnership with Art d’Egypte on Forever is Now II, we hope to illustrate one of many ways this could be achieved and how technology can help immerse people in the artistic journey,”
– Fares Akkad, Country Director, MENA at Meta. 

Creators from around Europe and the Middle East, including Hadia Ghaleb, Marissa, Mohamed ElHabtour and BrandonB,  were some of the first to trial the filter, making and sharing experiential videos with their friends and followers on Instagram. 

“This experience was surreal and memorable. Surreal, because we were in one of the world’s most ancient landscapes experiencing futuristic AR technology, and memorable because it was a fresh and novel approach to content creation. For me as a creator, the filters were a very cool way to see how technology and art were being brought together to uplift and enhance our experience.”
– Brandon Baum, UK-based Creator

This is our first XR investment in Egypt geared towards blending digital overlays onto the physical world by creating interactive, creative and immersive content around an experience.  Augmented reality technology will play a big part in the metaverse and help more  communities worldwide experience art in new and immersive ways.

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