QRart to Heart
Taylor Swift’s Clever Album Introduction
Taylor Swift‘s new album The Tortured Poets Department has been made the talk of Chi-town due to the appearance of a clever piece of art in the windy city. A giant QR code was embedded within the abstract piece as the group of painters were still working diligently on Monday (April 15), on the River North district of Chicago.
Swift Fan’s took photos of the installment showing a large QR code in blended lines of code. Scanning the code led viewers to a Short on Taylor Swift’s YouTube page. Press “play,” and a message reading “Error 321”appears onscreen, as if somebody were typing it ‘live’.
Could this be a chance for Qr Codes to evolve out of this robotic easel mimicking a teaser campaign? It seems likely, more art-influenced crossbred codes could suddenly appear in our blossoming cybernated reality.
But this is not a new concept at all but a very slowly moving advance towards an art and tech matrimony. The introduction of various coloured codes became popular around 2016 as well as the addition of tiny logos embedded within the centre of the code. This expression seemed adequate for forcing brand recognition. Although the impact of these maneuvers faded due to the Covid uptake of classic QR codes, the evolution slowed.
Companies like MazeQR originally pioneered the progression of ‘fully customised’ code for over a decade.
QRs, or 2D technology has been around for over thirty-years now. In 1994, the Japanese company, Denso Wave created the scannable 2D code for managing their automobile inventory. The reason that the technology has extended beyond car manufacturing is because of its faster reading of the optical image and the greater data-storage capacity.
Today the technology is inevitably flirting with fully expanding to art as companies and artists alike are finding creative ways to make their codes more proprietary.
The The album The Tortured Poets Department features is set for release on Arriving Friday (April 19), having 16 tracks —and collaborations with Post Malone and Florence + the Machine. Taylor Swift first announced the project at an acceptance speech for best pop vocal for Midnights at the 2024 Grammys. It seems ‘Error 321’ is intrinsic to her campaign as soon after the acceptance this code magically appeared on her official site.
The mural is a teaser campaign most likely orchestrated by her publicist, Tree Paine, who can be credited for her record-breaking career. This blend of technology and art seems a glimpse into the future of the evolving qr technology seeking a face lift.
Although rudimentary, this curious installation wets the lips of her dedicated fans awaiting the arrival of the album, Tortured Poets. There are cryptic one-word clues about the album hidden in the lyrics to her older songs on Apple Music and others on Spotify.
If you cannot get to see the Tortured Poets mural in Chicago, scan the QR above to see her YouTube short.
Sol de Angel