A mural in Water Street Tampa animates with augmented reality

Technology meets art with a new mural at Water Street Tampa. Painted by Dutch artist Leon Keer, it becomes animated through augmented reality. But make sure you have your smartphone or tablet to make the magic happen.

Keer specializes in making augmented reality street art. Download the LeonKeer app (compatible with Apple and Android), aim the phone or tablet at the mural, and it will take on a 3D effect through your device.

Presented by CASS Contemporary and Water Street Tampa, the mural is painted on the East Cumberland Avenue parking garage at 1045 Cumberland Ave. and spans 100 feet. It depicts a tower of colorful gemstones stacked on top of each other in the order of the rainbow.

Through the app, the garage looks unpainted, then the gemstones stack up and burst away from the wall in 3D, with popping sounds.

“While creating the mural, I looked into the contemporary feel, which reflects on the diversity of the people and businesses going into the new Water Street Tampa neighborhood,” Keer said in a news release. “The mural is focused on the balance and cohesion of diversity reflected here in the city of Tampa.”