Mayukh Goswami

Concept

The Lenore Project is an augmented reality experience made as a part of Mobile AR class in NYU. The elements include the printed newspaper written entirely by the author of this experience and, of course, the mobile AR app (which at present, is a computer program). The reader of the newspaper is introduced to the small unassuming town of Fairfalls. Set in Rocky mountain states in the 60s, the small town newspaper introduces the reader to a mundane week in the lives of the inhabitants. The newspaper essentially serves as an outsider’s gaze directed towards the town, it presenting a sanitized view that one wouldn’t find amiss.

However, when viewed through the lens of the AR app, the newspaper assumes an entirely different garb. The reader is introduced to the town through an entirely different gaze. The meaning of it is left to the reader’s own imagination.

The quasi protagonist of this experience is the girl named Lenore, who has gone missing more than a month before the events of the newspaper. But it is through her absence that one can explore and tell her story.  

AR vs VR

The idea for it was conceived as a way to create a town in Augmented Reality. Virtual reality allows you to place the viewer in an actual town populated with 3D buildings and lets the viewer explore the entire volume of the town. AR doesn’t have such a power. However, I believe that AR when made in an art context, can serve as poetry as opposed to VR’s cinema. The world that I’m showing, grows with the imagination of the reader and is not shackled by the limits of VR and 3D modelling.

Technical aspect

The experience was crafted end to end by myself. It was made using Unity Vuforia. The animations were made using Photoshop and After Effects CC.

Role

Unity developer, Animator, Art Direction, Concept art