SEATTLE — A new augmented reality (AR) walking path from Pacific Center to Pioneer Square will lead visitors through Seattle and teach them about our history and culture while encouraging them to visit local businesses.
Decals or “launchpads” on the sidewalk will mark the path as hundreds of thousands of people are expected to fill the city for the World Cup in June and July.
“I love when people come in and go, ‘Oh, I remember having this, or I had something like this,’” Pioneer Square business owner Jason Lemons said.
You might find anything at Lemons’ store, The Lemon Grove, soon to be Lucky Lemons.
From sunglasses to jerseys to men’s and women’s clothing to housewares and electronics, secondhand is finding a second life in his shop.
“I love to see the nostalgia hit people’s faces when they walk in,” he said.
Lemons says during All-Star Week in 2023, businesses in Pioneer Square were told to expect big crowds.
“I ended up seeing a regular weekend when there was promised to be tens of thousands of people over a weekend,” he said.
This time around, he said, “it’s almost like a wait-and-see type thing.”
That’s where the path of decals on sidewalks and on store windows comes in.
“You can scan a QR code and see some incredible artwork created by artists from throughout the region,” curator Ashanti Davis said. “It could be with our Coast Salish cohort we are working with.”
Davis is the curator for Future Arts Way, a two-and-a-half-mile stretch featuring mixed reality.
The art will teach visitors about the things and the people who were here before, including Chief Seattle, the leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes for whom Seattle is named.
The idea is to prompt people to meet the business owners here now, as well.
“Make a purchase, connect with them because that’s why all of this exists,” Davis said.
KIRO 7 went out with one of the creative technologists behind the project and tested out the augmented reality at Third and Pine in downtown Seattle by the Macy’s building.
By holding a phone up to the pedestrian skybridge, viewers could see a waterfall cascading down and African and local flowers coming down the waterfall.
“I’m excited about the idea that people will see that technology can be used to create experiences that bring us together,” the artist behind the work, Divine Ndemeye, said.
Ndemeye’s ancestry is Burundian and she moved to Canada when she was 16. She currently lives in Vancouver, B.C.
“The water really references the black diaspora and the indigenous people of these lands, because water has such a big significance in our cultures,” she said.
“I think it’s an amazing idea,” Lemons said of Future Arts Way. He’s optimistic the walking path will help lift our community as a team lifts the World Cup.
“I think this is exactly what the city needs and needs a lot more of it, especially in Pioneer Square,” he said.
The organization is looking for sponsors for each of the stops as it develops the art projects for them. But people can also become sponsors in other ways.
You can find out more about Future Arts Way and how to become a sponsor.
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