An early experiment in the possibilities of augmented reality for sculpture, Native Tongue AR shifts an ancient material body into a virtual register, reconfiguring relationships between matter, time and space. Through AR and tracking technologies, the artist's monolithic abstract sculpture Native Tongue, carved in precious ancient kauri, enters three-dimensional digital space. Using photogrammetry, digital overlays of the 3 metre (10 foot) high sculpture are projected at 1:1 scale into the real world.  Viewed through a mobile phone or tablet, viewers move around the virtual sculpture, encountering its presence and scale. Close inspection reveals the grain of the ancient wood, carbon-dated to over 45,000 years, a once buried taonga, bringing traces of deep time into the present.

Situated amidst the iconic sights of Venice, the towering skyscrapers of New York, at MoMA or within the landscape of Storm King, Native Tongue AR moves between radically different environments without material weight or permanent occupation. As a messenger from the past, it bridges ancient origins and emerging technologies, leaving a light footprint while inviting future-facing encounters with form and place.