Associate Professor Micol Hebron was recently asked to participate in a pioneering new project titled, “Coordinates”, the brainchild of LA-based artist Nancy Baker Cahill.

“Coordinates” is an augmented reality project that places artists’ works in places all over the world. She was among five artists who were selected for the premiere of the project, and dozens more artists’ works will be unveiled in the weeks to come.

While some artists placed existing works that they had already made, into site-specific locations, Professor Hebron chose to make a new piece that was designed specifically to float above Dodger Stadium.

“My piece, titled “Eminent Domain”, is a graphical poster that references the history of Chavez Ravine. While many people are aware of the history of the land where Dodger Stadium now sits, many are not. There is a difficult and tragic history behind that land which was at one time three different neighborhoods: Bishop, La Loma, and Palo Verde. The text on my artwork reads: “Between 1952 and 1953 more than 1800 Mexican-American families were evicted from these neighborhoods to make room for a never-realized public housing development and for Dodger Stadium. I designed the piece with the hopes that it might pique people’s curiosity about those neighborhoods, and how they came to be Dodger Stadium,” she said.

Currently there is an intense debate and conversation in the art world (and beyond) about gentrification in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles – which is not that far from Dodger Stadium. Professor Hebron thought about those conversations and drawing connections to one part of the history of gentrification in Los Angeles.

“I think it’s also relevant that California is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, and the cost of housing in Los Angeles is higher than it’s ever been,” she said.

The project, Coordinates, was just written about in Art News magazine. “Coordinates” is a subset of Baker Cahill’s app called “4thwallapp”.  If you’re interested in checking out some of the other artworks, and in playing with art and augmented reality, download 4thwallapp from the Apple store or Google Play. If you’re using the app on an android, you will also need to make sure you phone has ARCore installed.