Postcards through time AR
AR experience Rotterdam Wilhelmina kade — Postcards through time is an AR experience exploring narratives of migrant experiences in Rotterdam.
The experience
The initial idea was simple. We wanted to make an AR experience where you go around the Wilhelmina kade in Rotterdam where you can feel some of the migration history of the location and how it changed the lives of migrants.
The experience works trough a series of six postcards that portray a location of the Wilhelmina kade. You can scan the postcard with the Artivive app. on your phone, which unlocks a piece of the story. The task for the experiencer is to find the exact location on the pier and point their phone at the postcard to uncover the story.
The story
The story is about two migrants (one immigrating to the Netherlands and one emigrating) they send each other postcards trough time about what is going on in their life. Both characters struggle with being stuck in between. The stories cover topics like being afraid of the unknown, leaving behind your old life, waiting for your life to change, expectations deferring from reality, isolation, and overcoming.
The characters
Sarah Ali 21 – 24
Personality
Sarah is a smart, excitable, and bubbly girl she is open to the world and likes adventure. Sarah is independent and bold. On occasion, she overestimates her own abilities.
Story arc
Sarah’s story unfolds from her first day in the Netherlands till three years later. In her story, she grapples with being accepted and finding community in the Netherlands In the end she will reevaluate if she wants to stay.
Johan van Dijk
Personality
Johan is a social and outgoing boy with a mischievous spirit. He knows what he wants and he dreams about the future often. When he feels hold up by grown-ups around him he can get rowdy/stubborn.
Story arc
Due to the circumstances of his mother’s death and his father’s departure to America Johan had to grow up quite quickly. Despite this fact, he is not the type to wallow in his own misery he feels stuck and miserable. His story begins with living in an orphanage getting up to no good and counting the days. In the end, he is leaving Rotterdam to meet his father.
Story board
Research
My focus in the research was to understand the location and how it could hold and support the narrative.
Scouting locations
Johan’s story plays out around the 1920’s. Since than a lot of stuff changed of course. here you can see me map out what used to be there and how it used to look like.