If you stop in at the Kelvin Grove library, you might see our new display of items from the L’Estrange Collection showcasing life and photography at the turn of the century: kerosene darkroom lamps, photo negatives on glass and a wooden camera as big as a basketball. But if you pull out your smart device, you’ll discover a more contemporary dimension to the display.
The Library has added augmented reality layers to some photos in the exhibition, which you can access by downloading the Zappar app. The AR layers add movement, sound and contemporary context to the historical images, and new augmentations will be added over time so keep your eyes peeled.
Not that this is the first time the L’Estrange images have been remixed — QUT Librarian Greg Steele has adapted some of L’Estrange’s photos for the annual GIF IT UP competition, which you can find in QUT ePrints.
GIF IT Up is a great example of the creative reuse of digitised cultural heritage material. Some gifs bring life to static images, and others add depth and context to their image. Some are pure silly fun, others provide modern perspective or critique their subject.
Moustache by Nicholas Kreutzer from Philadelphia, United States Source: Mikas Petrauskas, George C. Stukas | Kauno miesto muziejus via Europeana
1991 by Zsolt Sarkozi from Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Source material: Oversize Coat for Christmas | John Heywood | V & A via Europeana
Solar System by Monash University Library from Melbourne, Australia
Source material: Transparent Solar System, displaying the planets with their orbits as known at the present day, by James Reynolds, 1844 | Monash University Library via Trove
All the L’Estrange collection images are in the public domain, so they’re free to be remixed, reused and transformed. We encourage you to use them creatively – and @ us when you post your creations online!
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