Archive of Dance
Lincoln Centre Immersive
Lincoln Center Immersive reimagines Josie Robertson Plaza as a dynamic augmented reality canvas. Developed in partnership with EyeJack, the program features a rotating series of AR installations -- ranging from dance archives to large-scale visual art and spoken-word poetry -- that project cultural stories onto the campus's iconic facades. By blending digital media with physical architecture, the initiative expands public access to art and heritage collections, breathes new life into underutilized spaces, and reanimates archival content through site-specific storytelling.
Archive of Dance
The Archive of Dance immersive experience draws from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division's film archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with content chosen for both its historical significance and its potential for spatial storytelling. Digitally restored and color-graded, the footage spans over a century of dance -- from Anna Pavlova's 1924 Dying Swan to the 1969 tap jam Tap Happening, Indrani Rahman's 1975 Odissi revival, the Rock Steady Crew's 1981 breakdance battle on this very plaza, and a 2021 eco-performance on Governors Island. Each piece is precisely mapped onto Lincoln Center's facades, allowing visitors to encounter ballet, tap, Indian classical, street dance, and site-specific contemporary work in the very spaces where New York's dance legacy continues to evolve.
Digital Twin
EyeJack also built a high-fidelity digital twin of the Lincoln Center campus to plan and precisely position AR content. Using the same geospatial coordinates as the physical site, this virtual replica could stream the entire experience directly in a web browser -- though during production, it served as an internal tool for the creative team. The infrastructure, however, is ready to be made public, offering remote audiences a way to explore the plaza virtually and activate the augmented-reality scenes against a detailed 3D model of the Lincoln Center.
Spatial Mapping
Using LiDAR scanners and 360-degree cameras, we created a centimeter-accurate spatial map and digital twin of the Lincoln Center campus -- providing the foundation for aligning virtual content with the real-world environment. One of the biggest challenges was the campus's constantly evolving landscape, which required frequent updates. To solve this, we developed a streamlined mapping workflow that allowed even junior staff to easily rescan and update the digital twin as the site changed over time.
The App
The Archive of Dance app was designed as a pure web experience, using WebXR to deliver native AR quality directly in the browser. To begin, visitors are guided to the center of the plaza and taken through a short, gamified calibration sequence that prompts them to move and look around while the Visual Positioning System locks onto surrounding buildings. Once calibrated, the AR content is revealed. A custom menu lets users explore seven archival film pieces, track their progress, and unlock content as they move through the space. The entire experience was developed in line with Lincoln Center's brand guidelines, ensuring the highest standards of accessibility.
