Art Processors, the experiential design consultancy, has created a new experience based on a sculpture honouring Dr Martin Luther King Jr and his wife, Coretta Scott King in the US.
The firm has created The Embrace Digital Experience, a unique resource for visitors to learn more about the sculpture, Dr and Mrs King, and the larger civil rights movement in Boston.
The Embrace was officially unveiled on 13 January 2023 in Boston Common, the oldest public park in the United States and home to the Parkman Bandstand where Dr King spoke in April 1965.
The three-part audio story presented solely by Boston’s Black community’s cultural, spiritual, and political leaders forms the centrepiece of the digital experience. The web app also includes photographic studies on a variety of topics related to The Embrace and civil rights in Boston. The names of local civil rights luminaries are inscribed into the 1965 Freedom Plaza surrounding the sculpture.
“In seeking to create experiences that leave a lasting positive impact on communities, we are both proud and privileged to be working with Embrace Boston to share their vision of a radically inclusive and equitable society,” says Art Processors.
A call to action
Hank Willis Thomas, a conceptual artist, created the sculpture, which is a ring of intertwined arms based on a photo of the Kings hugging soon after discovering the Doctor had won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. The Embrace Digital Experience, like the sculpture, aims to honour the couple and their love while also placing the art in its proper context.
“We wanted to help tell the story of why The Embrace exists, how it was made, and why it is located in Boston, but also allow it to be a conceptual anchoring point for visitors. [The app helps them] to explore the history of civil rights activism in the city, to celebrate the achievements of its BIPOC communities, and acts as a perpetual call to action.”
Naheem Garcia, who was born in Cuba but relocated to Boston in 1968 when he was just one year old, narrates the three audio chapters. Garcia grew up during some of Boston’s most tumultuous occasions, including the busing issue and protests related to school desegregation.
With years of stage, television, and Hollywood film experience, Garcia introduces local trailblazers and describes historical events in Boston with empathy, emotion and a welcoming voice to the listener.
Valuable insights from the past
By scanning a QR code placed on walkways leading to the sculpture, users of any mobile device can quickly and easily access the Embrace Digital Experience. The three essential parts of the experience are broken down into the concepts of “Listen, Look and Learn”:
- Audio Stories: This section contains the three audio chapters which are presented chronologically but may be listened to independently as standalone stories. The narration is provided exclusively by Black Bostonians.
- Our Heroes: Featuring pictures and insight into Boston-area civil rights pioneers whose names are inscribed on the monument’s plaza.
- Photo Stories: A collection of photographic essays on subjects related to The Embrace that also include images of the project’s production as it was being created.
“The creation of the Digital Experience was a deeply collaborative process. Guided by the values of Embrace Boston, we proposed three audio chapters that serve as a visitor’s guide to The Embrace while providing historical and contemporary context to the sculpture.”
The Art Processors team says that the project has huge potential as a curated audio-visual repository for Boston’s Black history, activism, and culture, allowing for expansion with subsequent contributions, whether they be newly discovered or original stories produced by modern Bostonians.
Art Processors has also recently helped to transform Sydney Opera House for its 50th anniversary as part of a unique year-long programme of events for the Australian landmark.
Photos courtesy of MASS Design Group
