TIME MACHINE: Bronzeville Between the World Wars
Two brothers introduce Next-Gen Storytelling in an immersive app.
TIME MACHINE: Bronzeville Between the World Wars melds technology with stunning artwork and crisp storytelling to frame a virtual reality experience of the South Side of Chicago during the Depression, the Great Migration, Jim Crow segregation, and the Chicago Renaissance. This innovative storytelling approach is the brainchild of internationally recognized media artist, Philip Mallory Jones, and his brother, author and publisher, Donald Brooks Jones.
Designed for desktop computer use, TIME MACHINE: Bronzeville Between the World Wars invites the visitor to enter and explore a virtual gallery space that includes a large table top diorama of six square blocks of Bronzeville on Chicago’s South Side just as it was around 1940. The diorama cityscape is fully animated with lights, sounds, people and activity. Actual locations and landmarks are marked by dozens of “hotspots” with pop-up panels containing informative text about specific locations, audio, and video that give context to the time and place — then…and now.
But there’s more. Along with the diorama, the virtual gallery also contains other objects, pictures, and framed scenes. By exploring the room, the visitor discovers video sequences, sounds and music files, and narrative voices that bring to life the dramas and vignettes that took place as recent transplants from the South made a new home in Chicago with all its challenges and opportunities.
According to Don Jones, “My brother and I are baby boomers. Growing up, we were immersed in the stories of our parents’ Bronzeville community between the World Wars. The stories of the characters of their youth — the famous and infamous — were the stories that fueled our dreams and ambition. Our parents were storytellers. And so are we.”
Philip Jones has enjoyed a long and successful career as an innovative video artist and educator whose work has been supported by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, Public Broadcasting, and others. “We envision a series of Time Machine projects from this period. Just as everyone has a story. So does every place.”
Although they have developed much of the art, 3-D models, and story narrative, they plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign to get to the finish line. Says Philip Jones, “We know there is broad community support for this kind of project — one that tells stories in an immersive fashion using not only technology but also actual archival material that give the stories authenticity. We’re committed to telling our own stories.”
“The story of Bronzeville during the Great Migration is significant,” Don Jones explains. “The movement of African-Americans from southern farms into the cities of the North and West changed America in every way — politically, socially, culturally. In fact, this is one of the most under-reported events in American history. We want to tell these stories in an immersive way for all to understand, appreciate, and enjoy.”
The project will launch on Kickstarter on October 25, 2022.
About The Author
Donald Brooks Jones is the author of BACK HOME THE SAME DAY, LITTLE DID I KNOW: The Coming of Age of a Black Boomer and DATELINE: BRONZEVILLE — A Runny Walker Mystery. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
donaldbrooksjones.com
Contact: Lauren Davis | info@alchemymediapublishing,co
