“Ararat AR” is an augmented reality public art project constructed at the very location where Mordecai Noah intended to found Ararat, “a city of refuge for the Jews,” in Grand Island, New York. With smart phones in hand, visitors are able to take an onsite augmented reality walking tour of Ararat. This project allows people to imagine Ararat while experiencing the actual place it would have existed. The public can simply download and launch a mobile application called Layar, type in Mapping Ararat which launches the project, and aim their devices’ cameras at the landscape. The application uses geolocation software to superimpose virtual objects at precise GPS coordinates, enabling the public to see the objects integrated into the physical location as if they existed in the real world.​

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This video shows three of the augments:

 

The Port of Entry, where immigrants would have arrived and been naturalized to their new safe haven.

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The Ararat Flag: if Ararat had become a separate state, then it would have had a national symbol. We chose the dove, which quotes the biblical Noah when the dove signalled that land was close and that life could again flourish. 

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Finally, we show the Ararat synagogue with a plaque that commemorates its founder. We sited the synagogue on the present day Grand Island golf course, making the project even more surreal.