Bringing the Columbian Exposition Back to Life in Augmented Reality

On May 1st 1893, President Grover Cleveland opened the Columbian Exposition on the shoreline of Lake Michigan in Jackson Park on the south side of Chicago. No matter how strong our sense of nostalgia is, the past is gone. But what if we could bring pieces of it into the present?

On the 129th anniversary of that opening, we released the first views of Chicago 1893’s augmented reality experience. Chicago 1893 has been working for the last year to do just that by recreating the largest buildings from the event that were originally located around the Grand Basin. This project aims to create museum-like digital assets focused on historical integrity and architecture with the intention of expanding broadly toward experiences focused on learning and richer functionality for entertainment.

These structures are being rendered in 1:1 scale. The goal is to allow people to perceive the scope of the buildings the way those in 1893 did, if sculptures loomed from 100 feet above they will within augmented reality as well. Just imagine: classical architecture, anywhere in the world — No matter where!

Ever since HG Wells published “The Time Machine” people have been fascinated with the idea of time travel — the Chicago 1893 XR project begs the question: “what if you could bring the past to back life?”

The Columbian Exposition is arguably the most notable World’s Fair of all time but very little of its architectural legacy remains. Over the last four years we have been diligently scouring archives to compile the documentation required to render the buildings in digital 3D for augmented reality which were created by some of the finest architects of the Gilded Age.

Now we are in the final stages of Phase 1’s buildout which includes the major structures located around the Grand Basin. The plan is to make the first asset available to the public this summer. It will be the Administration Building, a Beaux-Arts structure designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt who is also responsible for the entrance facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

You can expect more details as we approach this initial release.

Join us and see the Columbian Exposition come back to life.

For More:

Documentary Film: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JCPFJ54

Book: https://amazon.com/dp/1082413585

Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/1893-chicago-columbian-expo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicago.1893

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chicago_1893

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicago.1893

last quarter moon

The LAST QUARTER MOON occurs on Tuesday, October 2, 2018, at 5:45 AM EDT.

On Tuesday morning, the Last Quarter Moon is exact, when the Sun in Libra squares the Moon in Cancer.

“The Last Quarter Moon phase points to some sort of crisis of consciousness. After basking in the awareness symbolized by the full light of the Moon at the time of last week’s Full Moon, we disperse our knowledge and come to a point when we need to sort out what works for us–and what doesn’t–in preparation for next week’s New Moon, when something new is born once again. This is not the best time to start a major project, as the decreasing light of the Moon symbolizes a descent into unconsciousness. It’s time to begin finishing up the details of that which was conceived at the last New Moon. What revelations did you have last week? What did they mean for you? What can be done now?”
https://cafeastrology.com/thisweekinastrology.html
Kodak 5063 Tri-X film
Photograph by Michelle Gemma

The Balance of Power

The woman is perfected.
Her dead

Body wears the smile of accomplishment,
The illusion of a Greek necessity

Flows in the scrolls of her toga,
Her bare

Feet seem to be saying:
We have come so far, it is over.

Each dead child coiled, a white serpent,
One at each little

Pitcher of milk, now empty.
She has folded

Them back into her body as petals
Of a rose close when the garden

Stiffens and odors bleed
From the sweet, deep throats of the night flower.

The moon has nothing to be sad about,
Staring from her hood of bone.

She is used to this sort of thing.
Her blacks crackle and drag.

 

a new photo narrative featuring Model: Jane Alice
as my LIBRA
for the new series: Personal Universe, an astrological study starring the model stable of Michelle Gemma (2017-2018)
Photograph by Michelle  Gemma
27 July 2018
Stonington Boro, CT  USA
Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

https://michellegemmaphotography.com/
https://michellegemmaphotography.wordpress.com/

featuring the Poem:
Edge      by      SYLVIA PLATH

 

 

 

 

“I’ll Make You Forget”

“Ooops alright
I’ll come over
And pour myself over you”

“Jars of fun!
Exciting stories
I’ll make you forget”

“Tickle you a little bit
Seduce out your good temper”

“I’ll shine all over”

“I’ll cook my best dish for you”

“But then it’s my turn
I want all your adoration”

“Dog, I own you
Sit down fool”

“You own me”

“I’m yours
I’m the sun”

“I’ll shine all over you”

“Grab the rays
Sugar”

“I’ll make you forget”

“I’ll make you for-get”

“I’ll Make You Forget”
a photo narrative featuring Model: Caroline Walz
Photographs by Michelle Gemma
11 October 2016
House of 1833
Old Mystic, CT  USA

https://michellegemmaphotography.com/
https://michellegemmaphotography.wordpress.com/

inspired by the song “Ooops” by 808 State, 1991.
Songwriters: Martin Price / Andrew Edward Barker / Darren Alan Partington / Graham Vernon Massey / Björk Gudmundsdottir
Ooops lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG Rights Management US, LLC

“Return From The Sea”

The Captain has been on a long sea voyage to find his fortune, having left behind his beloved.

He has anxiously awaited his return home.

He knows that his beloved has paced away many nights at the Mansion up in the Widows Walk, craning a look through the telescope: hoping to see a ship , any ship, any movement.

Movement is life.

The sea has movement but it can betray the visible truth because there is so much movement in the sea.

The sea waves back at you, is hopeful.

The Captain has arrived at the Mansion.

He enters each room and looks around.

Then he walks upstairs to get a better look. The Widows Walk has the best view. Plus there is a telescope: he will find her…

“Return From The Sea”
a new photo narrative starring Writer: Royal Young
Text and Photographs by Michelle Gemma
25 June 2018
Spicer Mansion
15 Elm Street, Mystic, CT  USA

It’ll End In Tears

Kangaroo

Song To The Siren

Holocaust

FYT

Fond Affections

The Last Day

Another Day

Waves Become Wings

Barramondi

Dreams Made Flesh

Not Me

A Single Wish

 

It’ll End in Tears is the first album released by 4AD collective This Mortal Coil, an umbrella title for a loose grouping of guest musicians and vocalists brought together by label boss Ivo Watts-Russell. The twelve tracks of the album are illustrated here, in proper order.

featuring Model: Emma Rocherolle
all Photographs by Michelle Gemma
Spicer Mansion, Mystic, CT  USA

https://michellegemmaphotography.com
https://michellegemmaphotography.wordpress.com/

Dark Fantasy

“hey, teacher, teacher
tell me how do you respond to students?
and refresh the page and restart the memory?
respark the soul and rebuild the energy?
we stopped the ignorance, we killed the enemies
sorry for the night demons still visit me
the plan was to drink until the pain over
but what’s worse, the pain or the hangover?”

featuring Model: Kathryn O’Reilly
Mystic, CT USA
Photograph by Michelle Gemma

https://michellegemmaphotography.com/

Take Me With U

Don’t care where we go
I don’t care what we do
I don’t care pretty baby
Just take me with u

featuring Model: Morgan Vail—from the ongoing series “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl”—
a timeline of photographs over 17 years with the same model
June 2015
Mystic, CT USA
Photograph by Michelle Gemma

https://michellegemmaphotography.com/