ABSTRACT
Curated exhibitions have long been the primary means by which the work of historians of urban and material culture has interfaced with the public. They are sites of translation, where the relatively specialized knowledge of experts meets an engaged public, sites where scholarship becomes communication. Rather than jumping immediately and precipitously into describing a host of technological platforms and their affordances, it is useful to frame this discussion in the context of a recent exhibition that emerged in relation to the Visualizing Venice initiative. Projection-mapped onto its sloped sides is a collage of hands, the virtual traces of previous visitors who have received the gift of remembrance through the experience of the exhibition. Projection mapping involves techniques that break from the traditional rectilinear frame people have come to expect from computational interfaces. While a global positioning system (GPS) has been a standard for tracking outdoor position for some time now, indoor localization and tracking has proven more difficult.
