Looking Glass is Live
Hey friend,
Thank you so much for joining this newsletter–I’m grateful for your support of Looking Glass!
This journey began in earnest three years ago. Back in the spring of 2021, I joined a community of tech workers as a student of Collective Action School. For twelve weeks, we gathered online to learn and think critically about the myriad intersections of society and technology.
That space, stewarded by Xiaowei Wang, catalyzed the elements that would form the basis of Looking Glass. Guided by our cohort’s theme of creative protest, I envisioned a lens that could unearth the stories buried in gentrified spaces. I owe the most special thanks to Xiaowei and Dorothy Santos for affirming that vision and continually encouraging me to make it as expansive as possible.
Fast forward to June 29th, collaborators and community joined me to celebrate the launch of the Looking Glass beta. I wanted to mark the milestone by highlighting the stories contained in the archive and placing my work in conversation with other Black artists creating immersive media. Special thanks to my friend Stephan Caspar for lending me the gear to feature the films Traveling While Black, Red Summers (Tulsa), and Blackstar Sanctuary by the local collective Rainbow Serpent.
If you have an iPhone, you can download the Looking Glass app today and engage with stories from Black Pittsburgh’s near and distant past. While you’re within the city limits, you can travel to the map markers and instantiate AR sculptures connected to each story. And this is just the beginning. I hope to release the Android beta in August and I have so much more planned for the archive and the app.
I started this journey with Looking Glass because something special happens when we visit the past. Each encounter has the potential to reshape our understanding of the present and illuminate alternate paths forward. If you’re willing to enter the archive and travel with an open heart and mind, I think you’ll believe the same.
More to come soon,
Adrian