Unknown/Known: Augmented Broadway

Unknown/Known: Augmented Broadway or The Memorial to the Unknown honors the many unknown individuals that are buried in City Cemetery. The new monument overlays the memorial to John Sutter, the “founder of Sacramento”. Many of the “unknowns” in the cemetery were Chinese immigrants who came to early Sacramento and helped build the city. This project alludes to questions such as: Who is a “hero”? What is a life? How do we remember? And who do we remember and why?

Unknown/Known: Augmented Broadway was part of Broadway Augmented, a virtual public project that took place on the Broadway corridor, between 21st Street and the Old City Cemetery, September 13 – October 31, 2014. This innovative public art project employs cutting edge technology to create eleven virtual public artworks in one of Sacramento’s most eclectic transitional neighborhoods. The project is produced by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission , California State University, Sacramento and the Greater Broadway Partnership – the Business Association for the neighborhood in which the project will take place. The eleven artists in the project are comprised of nationally renowned public artists and new media artists. Several of the artists are new media artists, some with an expertise in Augmented Reality. However, many of the artists have never used this technology before, and were assisted through the process of generating 3D models for use in the app by recent graduates from the Electronic Art emphasis in the Art Department at California State University, Sacramento. Curated by Shelly Willis and Rachel Clarke.