Street art in the library: Transforming spray paint into a digital archive and virtual reality experience

This paper discusses The University of Nevada, Reno Libraries and Digital Media Technology Department’s partnering with an art historian, local art organisations and Reno street artists to create an online archive, exhibit and virtual reality (VR) experience highlighting the explosion of urban street art in Reno. The Libraries assembled a team that photographed the art using traditional two-dimensional digital cameras, and captured 360 VR footage of the art and of several artists creating interior and exterior murals. The team conducted on-camera interviews with prominent street artists in Reno; collected permission forms; generated metadata; and initially preserved the images and created an archive using CatDV, the Libraries’ media asset management system. The content was made available in the Libraries’ new Islandora installation in July 2018. In addition, a community-wide event was held during Reno’s annual summer art festival, Reno Artown, in which artists were invited to create art in VR in front of a crowd, and the archive and VR experience were demonstrated. By providing an archive that is accessible to students and community members, the Libraries supports scholarly research in urban street art and creates ties with local communities.