Coming Home
All photos on this page are courtesy of lava mae
Artists: John Craig Freeman; Tania Ketenjian & Philip Wood, Sound Made Public; Amy Schoening, True Story
Produced by: Lava Mae, ZERO1
Made possible by: Lucia Choi-Dalton, Trevor TCR and Paul G. Allen Philanthropies
coming home is an immersive augmented reality + audio experience designed to connect San Franciscans across the housing divide. The project invites viewers to immerse themselves in a choice of eight life-size virtual scenes from across San Francisco neighborhoods, meet a full range of their houseless neighbors, and hear their stories – from life on the street to holding a job, as a student or an elder, and from the point of view of those who have successfully moved beyond what is, foremost, a temporary situation. coming home invites San Franciscans to experience how we are all more alike than we are different, and to share their reflections as part of the installation.
As San Francisco finds itself embodying both the best of human capacity and the worst, our unrelenting crisis around housing insecurity and the houseless has come to define us as sharply as our innovation and entrepreneurship. Most of us know little about our unhoused neighbors – those we see and the many more who are invisible – their stories, or what's required to navigate these challenging circumstances. Most of us don't realize that the majority of our houseless neighbors are unhoused due to circumstances beyond their control, such as eviction, and that homelessness is only a temporary experience for most.
“Most people know little about their unhoused neighbors – those they see and the many more who are invisible, their stories are needed to navigate these challenging circumstances of
the housing divide.”
- ZERO ONE
How it works
coming home ran from September 7 to September 16. 2018 at PROXY in Hayes Valley (432 Octavia Street). The installation was accessible 24/7 and was best viewed in the late afternoon and early evening. In addition to the PROXY installation, viewers can also explore coming home's virtual scenes in unexpected locations across San Francisco beginning September 7 and continuing indefinitely.
The 8 augmented reality scenes of coming home can be experienced through the Layar app at different locations throughout San Francisco. The piece is also available on Apple devices no matter the user’s location. The scenes are available as individual apps through the Apple App store by searching “coming home lava mae.”
Excerpt from Forecast interview:
Schoening: “You look into your phone, and you see around you Chestnut Street, you see the corner of Masonic and Haight. You see the Thai food store. You see someone sitting in front of it and you walk towards them, and as you walk up to them, you start to hear them telling their story. The stories—they’re real, and they’re not easy, many of them. But in almost every one of them, there’s the possibility of a change, there’s deep humanity and connection. So the ultimate experience is not one that brings you down, but one that lifts you into an understanding that we are like each other.”
Goldstein: “You get to see the person in their neighborhood, in the context of how and where they live, telling you something about themselves in a very quiet and personal conversation.”
Schoening: “At the end of it, we have installed a kind of a confessional recording device. You press a button that’s kind of like a door bell, and there are a couple of prompts, asking you to tell us a little bit about your experience having people who are unhoused as your neighbors.”
"ZERO1 believes in the power of art to build empathy. Our hope is that coming home will create connection between neighbors across the spectrum to share stories and better understand and support each other's struggles and triumphs."
- Barbara Goldstein, former ZERO1 President
“The opportunity to respond to the piece lets you record how it’s impacting you emotionally, and I think that’s not just a very important part of the art experience, but an important part of social practice in general: getting people to respond, and reflect about their own situation.”
- Barbara Goldstein
In Coming Home, you’ll meet a full range of people and hear their stories – from life on the street to holding a job, as a student or an elder, and from the point of view of those who have successfully moved beyond what is, for most, a temporary situation. And you’ll experience how we are more alike than we are different.
Coming Home, Painted Ladies @ Proxy
Coming Home Van Ness Inn
Coming Home, Haight and Masonic @ Proxy
Coming Home, Civic Center Boston Public Garden
Press
Augmented Reality Brings Art and History to Life for Nonprofits,
Calvin Hennick, BizTech, July 12, 2019.
Hayes Valley augmented reality project aims to build empathy for homeless locals, by Teresa Hammerl, Hoodline News, August 30, 2018.
Check Out PROXY’s Augmented-Reality Exhibit on Homelessness, by Peter Lawrence Kane, SF Weekly, September, 8, 2018.
SF art installation tells untold stories of the homeless through augmented reality, by Andre Torrez, KTVU 2, September 14, 2018.
Augmented Reality Art Project Sparks Compassion For The Homeless, by Betty Yu, KPIX 5, September 17, 2018.
Augmented reality tells stories of homeless in San Francisco, by Michelle Kingston, KRON 4, September 15, 2018.
Augmented Reality Exhibit, App Aim to Bridge Housing Divide, by Jenna Lane, KCBS Radio, September 15, 2018.