AR-MSP APP

The point of departure for this project is that digital technologies are increasingly shaping the role of museums both within their own space and in their global outreach. New media can help create exhibition spaces and experiences that prompt museum professionals and audiences to constantly challenge ways to inter- pret, construct and safeguard cultural heritage. My goal is to develop an immersive visual experience using geolocation-based mobile “Augmen- ted Reality” (AR) technology to allow a look back into Montreal’s past. The app will reveal hidden stories of urban cultural heritage signs in the form of archival photographs, texts and audio-visual content that will run on Apple iOS.

This project will build upon Matt Soar’s “Montreal Signs Project” (MSP) endeavour to draw attention to, and promote debate about the rusting and fading city’s heritage. Smartphone users will be able to walk around Montreal and point their mobile devices at buildings that carry the marks of times past superimposed to the current lansdcape. Inversely, they will also be able to see signs under threat virtually disappear from sites through “Diminished Reality.” This visual layering between real and augmented/diminished reality will provide a moment of reflection on the increasingly shifting urban spaces as a result of economic, technical, cultural and social changes. The AR-MSP app will offer cultural and educational insights and will help promote discussion and preservation of Montreal’s urban cultural heritage signs in the 21st century. In short, identifying and learning about Montre- al’s cultural heritage signs will be an exercise in motion and representation.