This project takes John Goto’s photo series ‘West End Blues: Jazz Migrants in London 1919-1974’, and creates an interactive multimedia exhibition across the streets of London.

Augmented Reality allows the blending of computer graphics with live video in such a way that they appear to be entities in the real-world environment. In this case the stylised silhouettes of famous jazz musicians will appear at sites that have a meaningful connection to their history.

The project uses the Layar application for mobile devices, and will combine the Augmented Reality experience with guided directions between sites, background information, and samples of the musician’s works. Examples of these features can be seen in the video below.

Demo of Layar's 2D features from Matthew Leach on Vimeo.

Goto recalls that ‘I heard Matthew give a presentation on augmented reality, the subject of his Doctorial thesis, at an East Midlands Universities Association workshop. Almost in passing he mentioned the Layar application, which triggered the thought that it might offer a new way of presenting my West End Blues series'.

The series evokes past musical events in London’s West End. The figures appear like spectres in the contemporary streets of Soho, and Layar offers the possibility of conflating past and present in a strange and evocative way.

The project is now launched and can be experienced live in the streets of Soho.

Layar is a free application, which can be downloaded for both Apple and Android mobile devices.