Silver Eye

Coinciding with the current exhibition The Archive as Liberation, artist, creative technologist, and archivist Adrian Jones will discuss his work blending augmented reality (AR) with historical archives to connect the past, present, and imagined futures.

Jones' practice is shaped by a commitment to those living in society’s margins. Utilizing his formal background in electrical engineering and software development, Jones' creative work explores the power of speculative imagination and intergenerational storytelling within digital spaces.

In 2021, Jones began developing Looking Glass, an app-based archive of Black life in Pittsburgh, which uses augmented reality to connect the present to both the past and imagined futures. Looking Glass is built on the belief that the practices of remembering and imagining have the power to transform. By changing our perspective on time and envisioning the city as a space where Black life can be celebrated, Looking Glass aims to open new pathways toward healing and collective action.

Jones was named Collective Action School’s inaugural Community Technologist in 2023, and he is currently a member of the New Museum’s cultural incubator, NEW INC.

Image credit: Adrian Jones, Charles "Teenie" Harris / Carnegie Museum of Art