Project: Terras Gauda AR
Context: Francisco Mantecón Poster Competition Exhibition
Discipline: Digital Art, Poster Design, Augmented Reality, 3D Experience
Platform: Mobile WebAR via QR code
A poster that opens a bottle into another world
For the 25th anniversary edition of the Francisco Mantecón Biennial, one of the most recognised poster competitions linked to wine, design and contemporary visual culture, ar-t.art presented “Terras Gauda AR”, an experimental poster proposal that expands the traditional language of poster design through augmented reality.
The work was conceived not only as a printed image, but as a visual gateway. At first glance, the poster presents a bottle of Terras Gauda transformed into a stained-glass object, inspired by the luminous windows of churches and sacred spaces. This reference to stained glass introduces a symbolic tension between wine, ritual, light and transcendence. The bottle becomes more than a container: it becomes an object of passage, almost a portal toward another dimension.
This idea connects directly with the poetic suggestion of “other worlds” — including the Spanish expression el más allá, the world beyond. The AR experience reinforces that concept by allowing the viewer to scan the QR code integrated into the bottle label and reveal a 3D augmented reality element on any mobile phone, without needing a dedicated app.
Innovation through accessible augmented reality
The proposal was regarded by the competition itself as one of the most innovative approaches presented to date, precisely because it introduced a functional augmented reality layer into the poster format.
Rather than using technology as a decorative effect, Terras Gauda AR integrates it into the core concept of the artwork. The QR code is not treated as an external technical element, but as part of the bottle’s label and narrative structure. The viewer is invited to interact with the piece in a simple and intuitive way: scan the bottle, open the experience and discover a digital layer that extends the physical poster into space.
This approach reflects one of the central ideas behind ar-t.art: augmented reality can transform a static artwork into a living encounter, creating a dialogue between printed image, physical presence and digital imagination.
Visual concept: stained glass, wine and transcendence
The bottle design uses a stained-glass aesthetic to evoke sacred architecture, fragmented colour and filtered light. Each section of the bottle becomes a small window, suggesting that wine can be understood not only through taste, but also through memory, landscape, culture and imagination.
By combining the visual language of ecclesiastical glasswork with contemporary 3D and mobile AR, the proposal creates a bridge between tradition and technological experimentation. The result is a poster that belongs to the world of wine, but also to the world of digital art and immersive storytelling.
Terras Gauda AR explores how a bottle can become an interface, how a label can become a trigger, and how a poster can become an experience.
Additional proposal: “La mar”
Alongside Terras Gauda AR, ar-t.art also developed “La mar”, a digital art proposal inspired by the natural and sensory identity of the wine.
The composition plays with three key elements that influence the character and salinity of Terras Gauda: earth, grape and sea. The lower section, representing Terra, is created with a pastel-like treatment; the central area evokes the Caiño grape through an oil-painting texture, connecting with Gauda as pleasure or enjoyment; and the upper section, La mar, is rendered in a lighter watercolour language.
Together, these three layers create a poetic visual reading of the wine’s origin: the land, the fruit and the Atlantic influence that shapes its personality.
