Losing Winter
Site-specific multimedia participatory art project, AR mobile app
Losing Winter is a site-specific, participatory artwork and archive of memories and emotions about winter, revealing the personal and cultural ties we have to the season and providing a window onto what we are collectively losing due to climate change impacts on weather patterns. The project is realized through site-specific exhibitions, collaborations with the public, and an augmented reality mobile application. Losing Winter was first realized with the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest, Romania in 2018. In addition to the recorded memories, the project in Bucharest included Melt, a video featuring a series of unique ice sculptures created in response to memories contributed by participants positioned in key locations in and around the museum. Losing Winter has since been realized in several other iterations, including at the Maryland Center for History and Culture (Baltimore, MD, 2021 - 23) and at the Oresman Gallery at Smith College (Northampton, MA, 2022). The Losing Winter mobile app is the project archive and invites users to experience the memories of others through an augmented reality display. Holding up a mobile device, users see a shower of rain drops overlaid onto the scene in which they are standing. Tapping on the screen freezes drops of virtual water and tapping a second time enlarges a single drop, revealing a person frozen inside who begins to speak, telling you about their memory. As they complete their story, they disappear and the ice drop melts, turning back into water and falling out the bottom of the frame.