Just 50 years ago, Vancouvers downtown streets were awash with neon. Today, these seemingly indelible fixtures have all but disappeared. In October 2011, to help preserve neons legacy, the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) unveiled a semi-permanent installation of neon signs called Neon Vancouver / Ugly Vancouver.
On April 30, Museum of Vancouver (MOV) explores that subject in greater length with the launch of the Visible City, a virtual exhibition of Vancouvers neon history. In doing so it becomes the first cultural institution in North America to have developed an app that makes use of augmented reality technology.
The Visible City is a free app and virtual exhibition that allows users to discover the rise, fall and revival of neon in Vancouver. The app provides walking tours of Vancouvers most colorful neighborhoods and users can actively contribute to the history of 57 of Vancouvers neon signs by uploading their own stories, sharing them with others and voting on their favorite signs and places.
The app was borne out of a strong desire to bring the museum experience into the city itself, beyond the walls of our physical galleries, explains Hanna Cho, MOVs curator of Audience Engagement. Discovering and exploring the city you live in through your mobile is such a normal part of our lives now, its exciting to have an app like the Visible City to add a curated layer of storytelling and interactive time-shifting to Vancouvers Granville and Chinatown neighborhoods.
Users can explore two digitally guided walking tours through Vancouvers cultural heart (Granville Street) and the citys original downtown hub (Chinatown and Hastings Street). By holding their cameras up to the present day scene, they can see the same Vancouver location appear as it did in the 1950s, 60s or 70s. Users can then listen to over 40 pre-curated stories on audio and video told by celebrated Vancouverites like Dal Richards (big band musician), Joe Keithley (of DOA), Judy Graves (City of Vancouver advocate for the homeless) and more.
The Visible City is free to download and is available via the iTunes App and Google Play.
