Project Profile:

Mapping Ararat: An Imaginary Jewish Homelands Project

Archived Project

Website: http://www.mappingararat.com/

Description: Mapping Ararat is an augmented reality project that navigates through an imaginary Jewish homeland.  It offers the user/participant the tools to imagine an alternative historical outcome for Major Mordecai Noah’s plan to turn Grand Island, New York into Ararat, a city of refuge for the Jews during the 1820’s. Utilizing cutting-edge digital media technologies such as augmented reality and simulated cartography, this project gives Ararat a virtual chance to become the Jewish homeland that its founder had envisioned nearly two centuries ago. The project consists of an on-site augmented reality walking tour that haunts the contemporary landscape of Grand Island as well as an interactive cartographic landscape set up in a 3D virtual world within a gallery installation. In addition, Mapping Ararat generates the vernacular artifacts common to all modern nation-states whether money, postcards or newspapers.

Contributors:

  • Louis Kaplan, Professor department of Art History, University of Toronto, Mississauga
  • Melissa Shiff, Research Associate, Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology at York University
  • John Craig Freeman, Public Artist and Associate Professor, New Media, Emerson College
  • Sarah James, Graphic Design
  • Reena Katz, Soundscape
  • Elizabeth Hirst, 3D Modelling
  • Ultan Byrne, 3D Modelling
  • Niki Sehmbi, Photoshop
  • Stev’nn Hall, After Effects

Funders: SSHRC

Recent News

CDHI Launches Indigenous Digital Practice Initiative for 2023-24 

CDHI is pleased to announce that we are launching the Indigenous Digital Practice initiative, with the goal of building strengths in Indigenous Digital Practice among university and community-based Indigenous researchers.

Dr. Jennifer Wemigwans is leading this initiative and has commenced her position as Director of Indigenous Digital Practice.

read more

Digital Storytelling Workshop, 24-26 November 2023

The Critical Digital Humanities Initiative (CDHI), a tri-campus research initiative funded by the University of Toronto’s Institutional Strategic Initiatives (ISI) program, is pleased to announce a 2.5 day in-person digital research storytelling workshop from Friday Nov 24-Sunday Nov 26, 2023, at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus (location TBD, Friday afternoon) and the Collaborative Digital Research Centre (CDRS) at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus (Sat. and Sun.).   

read more