
Dusty Art
Studio & Gallery

Augmented Reality Art & Established Artworks

Kunsthaus Zürich emphasizes that artists are important interpreters of artworks and open up new perspectives. Following this viewpoint we show that Augmented Reality Art can inspire additional interpretations of established physical artworks.
Gerhard Knolmayer created first digital supplements to museal art at documenta 15 in 2022, based on metaspheres created by Sarah Montani and APTIQ. The most impressive extension is a video based on Jonathan Borofsky’s "Man Walking to the Sky," which was presented at documenta 9.


Unknown artist:
Statue di Pugilatore,
Mont'e Prama (ca. 800 BC)
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Should we believe in Geoengineering as technological shield against Global Heating?" (2023)
The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari also presents obviously suffering Statuette di Devoti, found at Guspini in Sardinia.
Augmenting the heated globe in this environment suggests that these individuals may be suffering from the effects of global heating.

Unknown artists:
Statuette di Devoti, Guspini (ca. 3rd century BC)
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Suffering from Global Heating" (2023)
Mary has often been depicted as suffering. A particularly beautiful sculpture by a Franconian artist from the 16th century is on display at the Kunstmuseum Basel. In the years to come, her suffering could also be due to the destroyed living conditions.

Unknown Franconian artist:
Maria (early 16th century)
Kunstmuseum Basel
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Suffering because of future living conditions" (2024)
The Belvedere in Vienna owns 18 enigmatic sculptures by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, which were created at the end of the 18th century, and is displaying some of them for several years.
The sculpture shown here is presented in the Wien Museum, which reopened in December 2023, with the title "Die Einfalt im höchsten Grade" ("Simplicity in the highest degree"). Guess why Gerhard Knolmayer was tempted to add the climate sphere in front of this object.
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt:
"Die Einfalt im höchsten Grade" (after 1770)
Wien Museum
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Photo, Print and Video:
Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Global Warming Denier" (2024)
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Traditionally, it is assumed that the expulsion from Paradise was the result of Eve offering Adam an apple.
From a feminist perspective, however, the decisive mistake could be seen as giving men the earth and, as a result, extensive world domination.

Lucas von Cranach the Elder:
Adam and Eve in Paradise – The Fall of Man (1533)
Staatliche Museen in Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Did Eve offer Adam an Apple or the World?" (2025)
Wien Museum also shows artworks by prominent Viennese painters from several centuries.
Friedrich von Amerling:
"Die drei köstlichsten Dinge" (1838)
Wien Museum
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Don't forget, the world is also very important" (2024)

Arnold Böcklin is one of the most important Swiss artists of the 19th century and is presented in the Kunsthaus Zürich with numerous artworks.

Arnold Böcklin:
"Lovers in Front of a Shrubbery" (ca. 1865)
Kunsthaus Zürich
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Concern for the World is more important now" (2024)
Arnold Böcklin suggested a mask to Kunstmuseum Basel with a facial expression somewhat similar to Messerschmidt's sculptures referenced above.

Arnold Böcklin:
"Draft for the Sixth Mask on the Garden Façade of Kunstmuseum Basel" (1871)
Kunstmuseum Basel
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"What a nasty surprise" (2024)
The sculpture "L'Âge d'airain" (1875/76) by Auguste Rodin is exhibited, among others, at the Kunsthaus Zürich. Rodin promoted the work’s multiple interpretations, stating, "There are at least four figures in it." One of these interpretatione is that the sculpture depicts a suspended moment of human awakening to suffering.
If the sculpture is augmented by the heated globe, one can interpret the man's reaction as a desperate awakening about the effects of the climate crisis.

Auguste Rodin:
"L'Âge d'airain" (1875/76)
Kunsthaus Zürich
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Painful Awaking in Climate Crisis" (2023)
On Vienna's Beethovenplatz, opposite the Konzerthaus, there are two monuments commemorating Ludwig van Beethoven:
The Beethoven Monument by Caspar von Zumbusch (1880) and the
"New Beethoven Monument" by Markus Lüpertz (2017).
For both augmented videos Gerhard Knolmayer chose the same title.


Metasphere creation: Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer: "Ludwig von Beethoven looks thoughtfully at the achievements of the 21st century" (2025)
Global warming leads to higher sea levels and endangers coastal regions. And even the sea gods are obviously not coping well with the rising seas caused by the melting of the ice masses.
Max Klinger:
"Meergötter in der Brandung" (1883/84)
Hamburger Kunsthalle
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ

Video: Gerhard Knolmayer: "That's too much even for sea gods!" (2024)
While the Leopold Museum in Vienna has important artworks by Gustav Klimt on permanent display, the following painting was only on show in 2024 as part of a special exhibition of the Vienna Insurance Group's collection.

Gustav Klimt:
"Half-length portrait of a woman with hand on her forehead" (1884)
Leopold Museum
(Special exhibition of collection by the Vienna Insurance Group 2024)
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Why didn't we realize this earlier?" (2024)
One of our descendants is concerned about the state of the Earth that we have left behind. He will not take our generation into his heart.

Magnus Enckell:
"Boy with Skull" (1893)
Finnish National Gallery Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"What a legacy you have left us!" (2025)
Three wise women mourn because so many climate policy projects were shut down in 2025.

George Minne:
"The Three Holy Women at the Tomb" (ca. 1896)
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"We are deeply saddened by the current developments" (2025)
The famous Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler was well connected and a member of both the Vienna and the Berlin Secession.

Ferdinand Hodler: "Der Tag" (1904)
Kunsthaus Zürich
Metasphere creation: Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer: "Will esotericism help?" (2024)
Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky were close friends with the artist couple Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin. The portrait shown here was created during a visit by Jawlensky to Münter's Murnau house, which shows Jawlensky listening to Kandinsky's innovative art theories.

Gabriele Münter: "Zuhören (Bildnis Jawlensky)" (1909)
Lenbachhaus München
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Our generation really could not expect this!"
(Leopold Museum, 2023)

The world's largest collection of Schiele paintings can be found in Vienna's Leopold Museum. Among other famous works, several expressionist self-portraits are on display.

Egon Schiele:
"Self-portrait with raised bare shoulder" (1912)
Leopold Museum
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Egon Schiele is shocked by today's data on Global Warming" (2024)
As part of a collaboration with the collectors Gabriele and Werner Merzbacher, the Kunsthaus Zürich is showing 65 works of art on permanent loan, including works by the Brücke co-founder Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner:
Two Nudes on a Blue Sofa (1910-1920) (on permanent loan, Merzbacher Collection)
Kunsthaus Zürich
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Despite this heat, we can't take anything else off" (2025)

Daphne, a nymph from Ovid's Metamorphoses, symbolizes change as she transformed into a laurel tree to escape Apollo.
Dagobert Peche, in 2024/25 subject of the major exhibition PECHE POP at the MAK in Vienna, was fascinated by transformations.
The sculpture Daphne was carved from lime wood and colored for the Wiener Werkstätten shop that opened in Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse in 1917. Today it belongs to the Salzburg Museum.
In today's world of unexpected and disruptive change, would Dagobert Peche have seen Daphne as an allegory for the climate change we are witnessing? The big difference, however, is that Daphne wanted the change, and most of us are not in favor of it.

Dagobert Peche: "Daphne" (1917)
MAK,Vienna:
Exhibition PECHE POP
(Courtesy Salzburg Museum)
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Daphne – An allegory of
climate change?" (2025)
Similar to Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Ernst Barlach also encourages to present a person who doubts climate change.

Ernst Barlach: "The Doubter" (1917/1930)
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"I am a free thinker - I don't trust scientific statements" (2025)
Austrian sculptor Anton Hanak created an artwork titled "Der brennende Mensch – Du brennst und verbrennst" (1922), which is on display, among others, at the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz. The title of this artwork was used as title of a book edition of Hanak's diaries.
If we put the metasphere between his arms, the sculpture can be interpreted as a very early warning about a forthcoming climate crisis.

Anton Hanak: "Der brennende Mensch – Du brennst und verbrennst" (1922)
Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Early Warning" (2023)

Paul Klee's jester plays with balls. If one falls down, it is not a tragedy. It's a different story when jesters play with the earth - and perhaps gamble it away.

Paul Klee: "Der Narr" (1922)
Albertina,
Permanent loan from Thomas Kirch Stiftung
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"A fool gambles with the world" (2023)


Jonathan Borofsky:
"Man Walking to the Sky" (1992)
Location: KulturBahnhof Kassel
Metasphere creation:
Sarah Montani and APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Dear climbers,
it can't go on like this" (2022)
The heating of the earth, symbolized by the reddened globe, should always be kept in mind. Thus, our climate sphere was applied in a variety of observations, ranging from considering physical artworks to everyday situations.
An 8th century BC statue found at Mont'e Prama, Sardinia, on display at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari, carries a protective shield.
Augmenting the giant by the metasphere raises the question of whether geoengineering can provide us with a technological shield against global warming.
Marianne von Werefkin's work is characterized by very different creative periods. Best known are the works created during her long partnership with Alexej von Jawlensky and her 'late work', created in Switzerland and best accessible in Ascona.

Marianne von Werefkin:
Le dos a la vie (1928)
Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna Ascona
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer, Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Photo: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"At our age, we don't worry about the climate crisis" (2025)
Franz-Albert Tröster creates sculptures whose expressiveness inspired Gerhard Knolmayer to add the Climate Sphere. Many thanks to Franz-Albert Tröster for the permission to show these results.

Franz-Albert Tröster: "Neugier", Swamp cypress (2001)
Kulturkirche St. Jakobi,Stralsund
Special exhibition:
1. Stralsunder Kunstschaufenster (2024)
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Curiosity alone will not solve the climate crisis" (2024)
Franz-Albert Tröster: "Rufer", Pearwood (2011)
St.-Nikolai-Kirche, Stralsund
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Futile calls to the world" (2024)


Gerhard Knolmayer: "Innovations will secure our lifestyle!" (2025)
Dusty Art Studio & Gallery, Vienna
Metasphere creation:
Gerhard Knolmayer,
Sarah Montani, APTIQ
Video: Gerhard Knolmayer:
"Some reassuring ideas about innovation are extremely unrealistic" (2025)
Another page shows how the climate sphere may also be applied to everyday situations.
If you want to generate the climate sphere on your own cell phone and to participate in the
Citizen Art: Sferism for Future Movement,
you find instructions on how to do this here.