Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown:
Liberation Technology, Art, and Community Building in Action
September 19, 2021 - JANUARY 16, 2022
Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown banner
People walking around San Jose Japantown to check out the AR experience
JAMsj is excited to feature an exhibit on the Hidden Histories of San Jose Japantown project. Learn more about this unique, grassroots project that combines augmented reality technology, art, and local history and culture to explore the little known, and “hidden” stories of connection between the Chinese, Japanese and Filipino communities that together, shaped the Japantown we know today.
Hidden Histories AR experience
The exhibit provides a look into how immersive, augmented reality (AR) technology was harnessed by local artists and a group of scholars, historians and art and technology activists to make visible this little-known history embedded in the streets of the neighborhood surrounding the museum. It will show you how an open-source app created by two of the project’s advisors can turn a mobile device into a gateway for the public to see, interact with and learn local history and culture in a new way.
Hidden Histories AR experience
Currently, there are nine AR art installations up and running, completed in June 2021. Utilizing an “Immersive Technology and the Arts” grant awarded to JAMsj from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the project supported the creation of the AR art installations The exhibit will show you how to access the free app, where to view the installations and provide background on the artists and their art pieces.
Hidden Histories Project website: https://hiddenhistoriesjtown.org/
Video short on the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRBdrHGCoO0&t=45s
YouTube Channel – see the complete collection of videos, including of past public programs the project organized for JAMsj, oral history interviews, and interviews of the project artists and advisors:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxgqqDaBDo9GAgu6ezQfXWQ/videos