Arnold & Crystle Martin: Now and Then: Connecting Virtual Past with Present

October 2015 – September 2016.

Now and Then: Connecting the Virtual Past with the Present placed viewers around the Pasadena City Centers for citizens to see into the past. Each viewer had a QR code that connected to a larger framework of tech-enabled interactive history. 

Similar to coin-operated binoculars found along the coast, community members and visitors saw a glimpse of the past using historical images for the viewer locations. It created the opportunity to understand how Pasadena developed over time. The physical viewers existed as focal points in a larger framework of tech-enabled interactive history. A QR code linked viewers to a larger digital, historical landscape. This project helped connect the citizens of Pasadena with the history of the City Center.

BIO

Arnold Martin

Arnold Martin is an artist and designer based in Long Beach California. After completing an MFA in Studio Art at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2011 he worked as a designer at Drift Studio in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin while teaching sculpture at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Since 2013 Arnold has been based in Southern California where his interest in public art and public spaces has led to a burgeoning career in public sculpture.

Crystle Martin

Crystle Martin finished her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction specializing in Digital Media from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2012. Her dissertation focused on learning and information literacy practices in the community of the massively multiplayer game World of Warcraft. Her research focuses on youth learning in fan communities, specializing in information literacy and connected learning, and how those skills, if valued in academic settings, can create a more equitable education system. Along with this, she researches collective intelligence and peer-support in digital communities.