Holocaust Museum Los Angeles: Augmented Reality Education App

Overview

Client
Holocaust Museum LA

Technology
Augmented Reality

Platform
Mobile

Industry
Education

Release Date
2021

Awards
Collision Awards
Finalist

Introduction

Holocaust Museum LA, the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in the nation, houses the West Coast’s most extensive collection of Holocaust-era artefacts. The museum’s free education programming aims to fight anti-Semitism and hatred in the local community and throughout the country.

“The vibrant imagination of Magnopus is amazing and will be a powerful tool in amplifying our message globally.”

- Beth Kean, Chief Executive, Holocaust Museum LA

The brief

The Holocaust Museum LA wanted to enhance its collection and ensure the preservation of survivor testimony. We were asked to bring its unique collection to life and make Holocaust education innovative, engaging, and accessible to students worldwide. 

The solution

We created an immersive augmented reality app to offer students a new way to learn about the Holocaust and an opportunity to access and interact with key pieces of the Museum’s collection and galleries. 

Users can explore an animated model of a death camp from a phone or tablet. Whether in the museum, at school or at home, users of the app can zoom into different areas of the Sobibor extermination camp, tapping on interactive features for more detailed information, while virtual docents narrate the experience.

The impact

This project helps to ensure the next generation connects the critical lessons of the Holocaust with technology they understand, inspiring them to be upstanders and to fight against bigotry.

The museum has created an accompanying guide for educators and has trained 123 teachers to use it, reaching more than 150,000 students.

“This is so different to reading about a death camp in a textbook….You can imagine what it might look like, but you’re actually never there, and so getting this almost personalized, animated experience of being there, I immediately thought, ‘I want to share this.’ It’s an app that I really think is going to change education about the Holocaust and rising antisemitism for the better.”

Gracie, Student

Partners

Metastage

Source Sound Inc

IMN

Generously supported by

Jewish Community Foundation of LA

Max Factor Foundation

Television City Studios

The Snider Foundation

Full Credits

Magnopus

Executive Creative Director
Craig Barron

Executive Producer
Daisy Leak

Project Manager
Brett Skaggs

Technical Art Director
David Dalzell

Experience Engineer & Technical Artist
Lorena Rother

Lead Concept & UI Artist
Frank Capezzuto III

Release Manager
Peter Geiss

QA Lead
Scott Smith

Technical Artist
Hugh McCullom

Lead Rendering Engineer
Derrick Canfield

Lead Engineer
Kuang-Hsin Liu

Project Manager
Blair McLaughlin

QA Manager
Justin Schriefer

Subject Matter Expert
Vince Beggs

Lead Artist
Kellie Brewart

Pre Visualization & Technical Artist
Mark Allen

Lead Animator
Mike Ryan

Rigger & Animator
Gabriela Montes

Experience Designer
Nick McClure

Managing Producer
Kelsey Wong

Realtime VFX Artist
Daniel Naulin

Artifact Lighting
Joe di Gennaro

Quality Assurance Lead
Matt Alcala

Producer
Gabriel Blake

Sr. Producer
Max Geiger

Director of Studio Operations
Alicia Mirelez

Special thanks to

Ben Feldman

The Blatt Family

Beth Kean

Jordanna Gessler

Omar Sharif Jr.

Victoria Lonberg

Michael Hackman

Zach Sokoloff

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