AR-Audio Walk Annemarie Wolff-Richter

Annemarie Wolff-Richter was an individual psychologist who opened children's homes in Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s. There she also took in Jewish children and refugees, helped people to emigrate and was herself persecuted by the National Socialists. In 1944, after fleeing with the children's home in Zagreb, she was arrested and murdered in the Jasenovac concentration camp in early 1945. The square in Potsdam named after her makes little reference to her life in terms of content. To add this layer of information, I created a geo-based, location-based AR audio walk that can be accessed through the app Scavengar (https://www.scavengar.world).

In the Walk, I refer to the stations of Wolff-Richter's life, focusing on her homes in Berlin (1926-1937). At each station there is a 3D element with original photos. In the audio, the narrative voice speaks and background sounds reinforce the emotional connection to the subject. One of the main purposes of the Walk is to build an emotional connection to Wolff-Richter and her story. The story should be given depth in order to properly appreciate the significance of the actions. There are stations: Introduction, Annemarie Wolff Richter, Our Home, Our Children, Therapy, Daily Life in the Home, Funding, Political Persecution, Escape and Exit.

The Walk cannot be experienced passively. The user must move around, select content, and press buttons on the mobile device. Since the application is location-based, one looks at photos and walks through the stations one after the other, a movement is automatically created. In the process, the user must decide which photos to look at more closely or more cursorily, which automatically triggers a deeper engagement with what is being heard.

The Walk is designed for the Annemarie-Wolff-Platz in Potsdam: https://scvngr.app/VOkyFESQbnb. In order to be able to view the stations regardless of location, a virtual square was created in the app: https://scvngr.app/8ZBwxCwPbnb