Mark of Beauty QR Code Art

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Art-based charity project inspires Edinburgh artist to create paintings that people anywhere in the world can get involved with.
Trevor Jones, artist and Director of the charity Art in Healthcare, recently worked on a project utilising new technology to improve patients, staff and visitors experience and understanding of artwork in hospitals, inspiring him to create his own interactive paintings. Collaborating with a software development company Jones’ paintings can be accessed with a smartphone and allow viewers to upload their own art to a website and share with friends. The unveiling of these paintings takes place at the UNIONgallery Festival exhibition “Mark of Beauty” in Edinburgh 7 August – 3 September.
The last four years while working with the charity Art in Healthcare, Jones has been exploring how to help people in hospitals learn more about the artwork on display and after discovering QR codes he realised this new technology created an ideal opportunity. Teaming up with Numeriq, Jones built a website to generate QR codes for each of the charity’s 1300+ artworks, which allow anyone with a smartphone and barcode scanner access to more information about the charity’s pictures.
It was during this project that Jones began to see the QR code as art in itself and started to experiment with paintings that could be scanned. An avid Facebook and Twitter user, Jones was inspired to design the paintings’ website with social media trends in mind and in so doing has enabled other artists to upload their own work to an online gallery, essentially becoming participants in the UNIONgallery exhibition. The contributors are able to share their work with friends, leave comments and engage with other artists throughout the world through these artworks. Additionally, monitors will be installed at the exhibition displaying a slideshow of all artwork added to the website.