In the wizarding world of Harry Potter, readers are delighted to discover that the walls of Hogwarts buildings are covered with magical portraits, capturing the essence of the people featured that then come to life when someone stands in front of them. That technique requires enchantments and spells and things that are impossible to replicate in the real world (Harry Potter is, after all, fiction!).
At the University of St. Thomas, in preparing for our Culture of Encounter exhibit opening at 5 p.m. on Sept. 12 in the O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Department of Art History Gallery, we used real-world technologies instead of magic to bring portraits to life. Using augmented reality software together with photographs of community members, we created an exhibit in which visitors can bring the portraits of students, faculty, and staff to life, and learn about their experiences with the culture of encounter on our campuses.
University President Rob Vischer has said that with a culture of encounter, “we notice, we listen, we encourage, and we are present with each person we meet.” It is demonstrated best when “we reject a transactional approach to engaging those around us, instead aiming to build meaningful relationships.”
While we did not know what anyone would say when they walked through the studio doors for our photo shoot, we heard and captured so many lovely and poignant stories from community members about the times that they felt seen, heard, encouraged, and connected to their professors, advisers, colleagues, coaches, and peers on campus.
Among the more than 20 portraits, we hear the story of Branden Smith, a defensive back on the St. Thomas football team who says he felt seen when coach Glenn Caruso invited him to share his ambitious career dreams with that day’s game attendees. And Patty Pontemayor, a second-year scholar at Dougherty Family College who shares she felt listened to when her peers at DFC helped her through particular struggles. American Culture and Difference and English Associate Professor Dr. David Todd Lawrence shares a personal story about the community rallying to his aid after a medical emergency.
The digital storytelling technique we developed at St. Thomas was inspired by the work of Will Wilson, a contemporary Diné/Navajo artist who created something he calls Talking Tintypes. Visitors to his installations are encouraged to download the Talking Tintypes app and point their phones at large-scale, sepia-toned portraits, bringing to life photographs of tribal members that appear to have been captured in the 1900s. The very act of needing to use personal smartphones to get the story behind the portraits creates more connection to the art, and the stories told.
While the three of us are part of the ITS Academic Technology and Innovation team and the exhibit was the outcome of our time as Faculty and Staff Innovation Fellows, we would love to see this technique adapted for other digital storytelling projects. Our hope is to use this same technique to augment campus tours, and more, in the coming year.
The St. Thomas Culture of Encounter exhibit will be on display in the Department of Art History Gallery at O’Shaughnessy Educational Center, on the first floor next to the lobby, through Oct. 18. To hear the portraits come to life, visitors will need to bring their smartphone (and some earbuds or headphones), as well as download the Artivive app before stopping by the exhibit.
This post was written by three Faculty & Staff Innovation Fellows: Lisa Burke, senior director, STELAR; Peter Monahan, instructional media producer; and Eric Tornoe, associate director, research computing and emerging technology. The Fellows program seeks to engage the university community in propelling St. Thomas to the forefront on innovation. This year’s inaugural cohort recipients were selected from a wide variety of exceptional proposals received from across the institution.
