To commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Gates, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s iconic 2005 installation in Central Park, The Shed commissioned an augmented reality experience that would reanimate the project for a new generation of viewers.
The goal: create a spatial, multi-user interface that could anchor archival media directly to a physical map of the park — letting visitors explore The Gates in context, through movement, memory, and immersion.
As Senior Developer, I led the creation of an iPad-based AR application built in Unity, installed as part of the exhibition The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City. Seven iPads were mounted around a large sculptural table featuring a physical map of Central Park. The AR system used spatial anchoring to transform the map into an interactive canvas.
Visitors could explore geolocated photos, videos, and firsthand accounts from the original 2005 installation — each anchored to its real-world location. A curated selection of 360° photospheres offered immersive windows into the past, allowing users to step into the snowy, saffron-draped pathways of The Gates.
The experience blended responsive interaction with quiet reflection, allowing people to discover and revisit this monumental artwork on their own terms.
The final installation merged historical storytelling with spatial computing to evoke a living archive — a shared interactive space for memory and movement. The Gates AR offered a uniquely intimate perspective on one of the most ambitious public artworks of the 21st century, inviting users to engage with it not just as history, but as experience.