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Burden of Conquest: an Augmented Reality Experience by Shasti O’Leary Soudant

From July 26, 2023 to October 29, 2023

Location: See event description

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Burden of Conquest is an Augmented Reality Art Game for everyone, with physical prizes! 

Visit Burden of Conquest: An Augmented Reality Art Game and explore the virtual cities with your own phone or tablet anytime at Fallbrook Park, dawn to dusk, until October 29.

In Burden of Conquest: An Augmented Reality Art Game, you can explore 11 futuristic and fantastical cityscapes that are based on 11 real-life locations. Hidden in each virtual city is that city’s Heart—a small digital sculpture—that when discovered, provides you with a QR code to access a physical 3-D printed version at The Southeast Steuben County Library. All you need is an Apple device (iPhone or iPad) and a sense of adventure.

To create this artistic installation and game, artist Shasti O’Leary Soudant was inspired by Italo Calvino’s celebrated 1978 novel Invisible Cities. In the book, readers are taken on a journey through a series of fantastical towns, as narrated by Marco Polo to the notorious conqueror Kublai Khan. Soudant wondered what it would be like to create imaginative virtual cities so ephemeral, they appear as you approach them and disappear as you leave. The result is The Rockwell Museum’s very first Augmented Reality Art Game.

 

Weekly Fallbrook Park Meet-Up

Thursdays, July 27 – August 24 | Location: Fallbrook Park, 152-182 E Tioga Ave, Corning

Drop in anytime from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fallbrook Park to learn about and engage digitally with the Burden of Conquest exhibition. See meet-up schedule >>

Interested in a guided experience of Burden of Conquest? Join Community Based Arts Practitioner, Meghan OʼToole on a guided walking tour of the Burden of Conquest Augmented Reality (AR) exhibition in downtown Corning. To book a Public Art Tour with Meghan O’Toole and see available times >>

How to Play

  • To begin, you’ll need an Apple iPhone or iPad. To check out a device or collect your discovered City Heart, visit Southeast Steuben County Library: 300 Nasser Civic Center Plaza Suite 101, Corning. Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. | Saturday: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
  • Be sure your phone or tablet is connected to Wifi or cellular data. You can connect to The Southeast Steuben County Library’s free wifi at:
  • To start, scan the QR code on any of the yellow metal pillars and follow the directions on your device. The Gates of the City will virtually appear before you!
  • Explore the virtual city and search for the City’s Heart by walking around the park as you view the city on your screen.
  • When you discover the City Heart—a small digital sculpture—scan the code to access a code for a free, physical 3-D printed version of the city. You’ll be provided directions on how to collect your hear at The Southeast Steuben County Library.
  • Most importantly, HAVE FUN! City Hearts will be unclocked every two weeks:

 

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About the Artist

Headshot of Shasti O’Leary Soudant.

Shasti O’Leary Soudant

Shasti O’Leary Soudant is a multidisciplinary artist, sculptor, designer and writer whose large‐scale, colorful public art is inspired by humanist, philosophical, political, and scientific concepts. This work is developed in collaboration with the community, designed to invite engagement and interaction, and involves hidden systems, power dynamics, human relationships, balance and hegemony.

Burden of Conquest is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. This work was incubated and supported by the Sculpture Space Artists Residency in Utica, NY. We are grateful to our local collaborators—the Southeast Steuben County Library and Megan O’Toole (Community Based Arts Practitioner)—for helping us bring this Augmented Reality Art Game to fruition.