What’s on offer?
Curio is the arts, heritage and culture branch of leading UK augmented and virtual reality studio, Zubr.co. We are bringing a new stationary augmented reality binoculars product to the cultural attractions market, and are currently looking for partner organisations who are interested in hosting our units at a subsidised rate. We have received funding from Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst programme to accelerate the rollout of a number of pilot projects utilising our binoculars.
As a recipient of our offer, you’ll be hosting one of our enticing, groundbreaking and hardwearing augmented reality binoculars units at your venue for 6-12 months, free of charge. Bespoke immersive content will be produced at 50% of our commercial rate, or we can adapt your existing digital visuals to work with our hardware.
For more information on our AR binoculars and how to apply, please see below.
Who is Zubr Curio?
Zubr.co is a specialist augmented and virtual reality studio founded in 2015 and based in the UK. We have successfully delivered over 300 AR/VR projects. Our expertise lies in developing bespoke AR and VR experiences tailored to our clients, using tried and tested software developed in-house from over 8 years of extensive R&D.
In 2020 we created our sub-brand Zubr Curio to cater specifically to the arts, heritage and culture sector, developing high quality, accessible, audience-centred immersive content and educational experiences.
We began designing AR/VR hardware, recognising the importance of offering a simple but enticing route into immersive content for young children, older people, technophobes, and anyone who would prefer not to download or stream content with their own devices.
Meet Zubr’s AR Binoculars
Imagine being able to exhibit site-specific augmented and virtual reality content without asking your visitors to download an app, mess around with cumbersome and unhygienic VR headsets, or compromising on quality via a web interface.
We are very familiar with the advantages, but also the pitfalls and limitations, of bringing digital interactives to audiences. Our ‘AR Binoculars’ solve many of the accessibility and usability issues currently faced by digital interactives in arts and culture spaces.
Inspired by the familiar and much-loved classic seaside binoculars, we developed our ‘AR Binoculars’ – robust yet inviting, physical viewing units hosting location-specific 3D digital content instead of traditional optics.
Where have Zubr’s AR Binoculars been used?
Officially launched at the Museums and Heritage Show 2022, we’ve been approached by over 100 organisations from around the world who are interested in this unique product.
Often venues want to show their visitors something which is physically impossible. For example:
- Seeing a ruin rebuilt as a historic 3D scene
- Layering a photograph/sketch/architectural plan of previous renovation over a real world view
- Revealing hidden layers of a building, object, or artwork
- Adding contextual labels to significant sights
Our recent AR Binoculars projects include:
- Our 6 month installation at the SS Great Britain Trust
- A temporary installation for Bath Digital Festival 2023
- An exhibitor stand at Psych Congress 2023
- Our partnership with the American Battlefield Trust
How would the partnership work?
Thanks to recent support from Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst fund, we are delighted to offer up to 3 organisations a subsided lease of our binoculars.
This partnership would include the following:
- Free rental of 1x standard binocular unit for up to 12 months – commercially valued at £15,000
- Free consultation to devise the best digital interpretation/AR/VR strategy for your organisation
- 50% subsidised custom, site-specific AR or VR content made by our dedicated team
- Free colour customisation of the unit
- Free site visit for installation supervision, staff training and content calibration
- Free unlimited replacement parts during the lease as necessary
- Free basic analytics report, which includes the number, duration and date of all interactions
- Free photography and a short promotional video to advertise the experience, captured and edited by our videographer
- Partnership promotion on our social media and website
- Possibility to extend the lease for a reduced rate beyond the 12 months
We would need you to cover the cost of:
- Travel expenses for our technicians
- Shipping the unit from our studio in Bristol to your venue and the return journey
- Organising and overseeing the installation including power supply
- Ongoing ‘light’ maintenance for the duration of the lease e.g. regular cleaning of the unit exterior
Eligibility/What we’re looking for
- Your organisation is based outside of the West of England
- Your annual visitor numbers are 25,000+ and your combined social media following is 10,000+
- Your venue has a technician available during opening hours who will take responsibility for ‘Tier 1’ support and maintenance of the unit
We are following a ‘portfolio approach,’ whereby we hope to support a range of different visitor attraction types, content ideas and geographic locations.
How to apply
Please email amy@zubr.co with the subject line “Zubr AR Binoculars Open Call” and the following information:
- Your contact details, and the name and address of your organisation
- Please specify your annual visitor numbers and combined social media following
- What scene or event have you always wanted to show your visitors which isn’t physically possible? What story would you want to tell your audience through the AR binoculars?
- Details of any relevant digitised assets (photographs, documents, videos, artworks, etc.) that have suitable copyright clearance to be included in a digital experience
- Where would you like to install the binoculars and why are you interested in the partnership?
Timeline
- 1st Nov – Call opens
- 20th Nov – Applications close
- 1st Dec – All applicants notified of decision and partnerships begin