NONUMENT01::McKeldin Fountain
Project Description
“NONUMENT 01:: McKeldin Fountain” is Baltimore’s first virtual monument located in the Inner Harbor and free speech zone. This augmented reality public art project is free to download to your phone.
In opposition to bronze and stone, the nonument or “no monument” recreates the destroyed Brutalist-style monument the City of Baltimore and private partners tore down in January 2017. Using this app, anyone can put back the fountain and experience first-hand memories from ordinary activities, art events and protests, including uprisings following the death of Freddie Gray, Peace Vigils, LGBTQ issues and Occupy Baltimore.
When viewers hold up a mobile device like a protest sign, the participant will put back the fountain with 18 animated waterfalls including an infamous double waterfall. Viewers will see and hear documented interviews that includes a diversity of Baltimore voices from a former Mayor and ACLU lawyer to rappers, teachers and protestors, including the Women In Black who stood for peace at the site every Friday since December 2001. “Whisper Chambers” inside the fountain offer underrepresented voices in Baltimore City that are often unheard but significant to the vibrant life of any urban environment.
Significance
The story of McKeldin Fountain is part of the escalating privatization of public spaces worldwide, a trend that continues to diminish access to full participation and free speech for ordinary people in everyday urban life. This socially engaged intervention is an ambitious take on the latest AR technology in order to address the politics of reclaiming public space including: how public behavior is controlled by a variety of mechanisms? and, who has more exclusive access to what spaces?
Screenshots from the app.
Collaboration/Methods
The project relied on an interdisciplinary methodology combining emerging digital media, oral history, and urban research. Because original architectural blueprints were unavailable, team members measured the site and created a photorealistic 3D digital reconstruction of the fountain. Software design and mobile app development were executed in partnership with Balti-Virtual. Audio methodologies included curated interviews with local activists, youth, and citizens edited into spatialized audio tours, alongside a custom sound score and audio engineering. 3D modeling support and technological development were executed in collaboration with researchers at the Imaging Research Center (IRC) at UMBC, with physical prototyping supported by the Digital Harbor Foundation.
Researchers and Creators
Artist: Lisa Moren
Artist and Project Director; Jaimes Mayhew
NONUMENT 01 Co-Production; Martin Bricelj Baraga and Neja Tomšič, NONUMENT 01 Artists and founders of nonument.org.
Software coding and app development by Balti-Virtual
Sound Score by Erik Spangler with “Whisper Chambers” by JMoney fur
Interview editing by Jaimes Mayhew professor of visual arts with audio engineering by Lexie Mountain MFA ’14, IMDA
“Artist Audio Tour” by Lisa Moren with audio engineering by Timothy Nohe
3D models by Ben Shaffer’16, visual arts, and by Ryan Zuber, IRC at UMBC.
The 3D printed model was printed by the good folks at the Digital Harbor Foundation.
This project grateful for the generous support from the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film + Media at Johns Hopkins University.
We are also grateful for support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for The Visual Arts, The Grit Fund, Baltimore Women and Tech, and the Imaging Research Center and CAHSS at UMBC.
Special thanks to for the expertise of Audrey Ewall, Fred Scharmen, Mike Schector and the Saul Zaentz Incubation Team.
We appreciate the dedicated support from MoTA Museum, Baltimore Visitors Center, D-Center and Maryland Art Place who support this project in so many flexible ways.