Enklu was founded in 2016 by games industry studio executives who set out to prove that augmented reality (AR) content could express the best in quality, accessibility, and engagement.
Enklu transforms museums and galleries into modern experience centers with interactive stories you can share with your friends and family in immersive AR headsets like the HoloLens.
After creating the first independent marketing and entertainment experiences for the HoloLens, Enklu became a Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner in 2017. Enklu provides venues with a portal for creating, operating, and experiencing interactive narratives within AR headsets on location. Our mission is to empower storytellers to blur the lines between physical and digital reality with inclusive technology.
Enklu is at the forefront of the cultural revolution that is beginning to happen with location-based entertainment and mixed reality technologies. As new institutions develop and innovate, and as current cultural and entertainment institutions attempt to ensure their relevancy in the future, there is a need for an accessible and empowering platform for businesses and creators to use. Enklu not only provides that platform, it also gives creators the resources and tools needed to easily build, deploy, and manage their product.
Cultural institutions are a touchstone of the modern human experience—as we evolve, they need to as well. Those that do not adapt get left behind, especially in recent decades as technology progresses faster and faster. Enklu provides a bridge, a vehicle, and a map that point towards the future. Change and adaptation are hard, but Enklu is making it easier.
A new artistic medium
Enklu’s flagship installation “The Unreal Garden” was recently launched in partnership with OneDome in the heart of San Francisco, CA. As a group of creators and producers, OneDome sought to craft an immersive experience combining AR, visionary art, and a beautiful narrative. From the beginning of their vision, OneDome asked the question, “How can we deeply and effectively express the feel and narrative we are seeking in our exhibit?”
Using the Enklu platform, both producers and the artists were provided with the resources needed to deliver a truly captivating and inspiring experience. In addition to making an installation such as this physically possible, Enklu’s platform allowed the artists to express their desired narrative in ways that were previously unthinkable without AR.
The artists, such as Android Jones, Andy Thomas, Shuster and Mosley, and others, have access to Enklu’s web-platform to create 3D environments and scenes, which can then be loaded onto the HoloLens and projected in any setting. Enklu’s web platform comes with a free library of assets and animations, and allows users import their own from different formats.
Scripting options open up an entire new dimension of customization. Through scripting, artists can make their art interactive and responsive; adding a layer of temporality. One of Enklu’s larger goals is to set up a marketplace of 3D assets where artists can buy each other’s models, and venues can license artwork through the integrated platform, thereby empowering the entire community.
A fundamental goal for Enklu’s engagement with OneDome was to provide a level of independence. Enklu designed its platform to be completely user friendly, requiring very little assistance, so that it can be deployed anywhere with ease. To this purpose, Enklu’s “just works” deployment allowed OneDome to operate a massive AR experience, pushing the technical limits of the HoloLens, with very little technical knowledge. The solution streamlines the process from ideation to execution thanks to its remote editing options, easy-to-use platform, and extensive collaboration.