gene sits kingly, side by side a high res cross section of his very decorated home
Narrative/storytelling VR/AR

Gene’s Place

How can you understand and feel a space without having access to it?

Student

Francisco Navas

Advisor

Sharon De La Cruz

Abstract

Thousands of LGBTQ+ artists died during the AIDS crisis and with them millions of paintings, photographs, songs, plays, dances and sculptures that will never be. Gene's Place is a sanctuary of what an art space for many of that lost generation may have looked like. In this VR room-scale experience, you can freely roam, following Gene's voice through sections of his 2000 sq. ft. downtown Manhattan loft as he reflects on that difficult period of life and love, the art he’s collected and stories from his 5 decades of life in New York. The project documents and memorializes a crucial cultural space full of work by many queer artists before it is consumed by the inexorable march of gentrification.

gene sits kingly, side by side a high res cross section of his very decorated home

Research

Technical Details