PENN & SLAVERY PROJECT AR
Augmented Reality Experience
Client: University of Pennsylvania
Agency: Dream Syndicate
“The Penn & Slavery AR app is the culmination of a multi-year, student-led effort to investigate and expose the University of Pennsylvania’s past connections to slavery and scientific racism, as well as research and document the significant contributions of African Americans on campus that have been historically unrecognized. The Penn & Slavery Project, as it is broadly known, was started in 2017 by a group of undergraduate researchers who discovered numerous ways in which the university relied on and supported the institution of slavery in both North America and the Caribbean.
The tapestry of stories uncovered needed a thread to connect them all, and form a narrative that anyone could understand and follow. Of course, the campus itself provided just that, as much of the research findings were intrinsically tied to physical locations and buildings still in use today. So the team set their sights on Augmented Reality as an ideal medium to share their research with the public, creating the first ever augmented reality campus tour that exposes an otherwise untold, hidden history.
“AR was our chosen medium for this project for a few reasons. We wanted to highlight student research and innovation, make this history visible on campus, critically engage with new audiences, and speculate about new futures. AR allowed us to create rich multimedia experiences that bring together personal stories, archival documents, and student research that form an experimental narrative, which contextualizes the historic role of slavery at the University of Pennsylvania. The user engages with these stories while they are situated in key locations on Penn’s campus, which was really important for us. XR is often used to escape to other worlds and realities. We didn’t want our users to escape from this uncomfortable history but rather to engage with it thoughtfully and understand the embeddedness of the legacies of slavery on Penn’s current campus.”
– Meaghan Moody.
Once all the research was completed, organized, and distilled, we joined the Penn team for the next phase: creative concepting and development.
“When Penn brought us into the project initially they had an idea of a framework for the app and some of the experiences already on paper, and their ideas were awesome – really creative and interesting approaches to a complicated subject. Of course, a lot of the ideas needed some guidance, both in what was possible and ways to accomplish what wasn’t. AR is still a new medium and it can be tricky to do right, but the core ideas were there and were strong which is the most important part.” – Ben Carter, Dream Syndicate.
“An interdisciplinary team of student historians, developers, and designers planned the app’s user interface and the AR interaction. Because none of the students had worked with Unity and other related immersive technologies, Dream Syndicate’s expertise was invaluable. DS initially served as mentors to students and consulted with them. This learning experience was transformative for these students, who were also able to glean an understanding of how a professional studio operates. DS later finalized the project, ensuring high-quality design and production of the AR app. Of particular note, they helped us realize several of the stops, bringing students’ research and our AR concepts to life. DS approached this project with sensitivity and thoughtfulness and were overall wonderful, highly-talented collaborators.” – Meaghan Moody,
The Penn & Slavery AR app features a diverse mix of interactive video and 3D augmented reality experiences, spread across six unique tour stops. Designed as a walking tour through Penn’s campus, it tells the story of an enslaved man named Caesar during the very early days of the university, churns up the financial ties to slavery in the foundation of the university, creates a 360-degree virtual museum of artifacts used to justify scientific racism, establishes a virtual monument to Philadelphia’s first African American medical practitioner who was unofficially educated at Penn, chronicles the links to slavery of many campus building namesakes, and documents a family’s history and ties to Penn over five generations, from slavery to the present.
The app also features archival imagery and in-depth information related to all of the tour stops. While best suited for on-campus use, the Penn & Slavery AR app is accessible to anyone, anywhere, on both iOS and Android devices. Simply search for “Penn&Slavery” in your app store to get started.
“The Penn & Slavery project teaches us that no colony, state, or well-funded university was buffered from slavery’s reach. Penn’s story is a national story, and one of great importance to our ongoing efforts to come to terms with our nations’ history of slavery.” Penn & Slavery Project.
Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare. – H.F. Hedge