Rio de Janeiro’s port enjoys a rich past filled with stories you don’t learn about in school. That is the focus of Agencia Publica’s first app for mobile devices, the Museum of Yesterday.
The app is yet another release from LABs – Journalistic Innovation Labs, which are organized in Casa Publica in Rio de Janeiro. It mixes journalism, art, technology, and a pinch of “Pokemon Go” to provide the public with a new vision of the area surrounding Porto Maravilha, one of the landmarks of the Rio Olympics.
With the app, you can investigate this secret past, from the arrival of Dom João VI all the way to the recent corruption scandals of Operation Car Wash. Without a doubt, no one will see Porto Maravilha the same way again!
It was where the Portuguese royal family landed in 1808; where Princess Isabel signed the Golden Law to abolish slavery in 1888; where the Republic was proclaimed in 1889. But it was also the location of the largest slave port in the Americas, where more than 700 thousand slaves landed, and where President João Goulart made his Central Station rally, which was used as an excuse for the 1964 military coup.
These and other facts can be discovered by exploring the port with the app, guided by both a modern map and one from 1830. But pay attention! To experience the Museum of Yesterday, you must be in the Rio port area.
Unlike other apps, the Museum of Yesterday does not allow you to zoom in or out, or to scroll through the map. The app only shows what’s actually nearby. To discover the port’s secrets, you have to go to the closest location marked on the map. As you walk further, more parts of the map will be conquered. The app was created by Publica journalists in partnership with Dutch developer Babak Fakhamzadeh, and includes illustrations by the artist Juliana Russo as well as narrations by singer Anelis Assumpção.
For those of you outside of Rio de Janeiro, the app allows you to make a “virtual tour.” On the side menu, you can click on “Virtual Tour” and start walking wherever you may be. Every 50 meters, a new story will be unlocked. You can also select between three tours: The Terror Tour, The Samba Tour, and the Corruption Tour.
The Museum of Yesterday won the Word Summit Award 2017, the world’s most prominent award to recognize digital innovation with high impact on improving society. Running 15 years, WSA has become a quality seal for digital content with societal impact in over 180 participating countries.
Uncover secrets such as:
- The first and still forgotten slave port of Rio de Janeiro
- A former federal congressman’s kickbacks for renovation of the Port
- Dom Pedro I’s scheme to falsify racehorses
- The student murdered by the dictatorship who was carried in a funeral procession through downtown Rio
- The steel beams which disappeared after the demolition of the Perimetral highway
- The dictatorship’s torture center which today functions as a police headquarters
Team:
Coirdination: Natalia Viana and Babak Fakhamzadeh
Illustrations: Juliana Russo
Narration: Anelis Assumpção, Mariana Simões and Babak Fakhamzadeh
Digital Arte: Bruno Fonseca
Texts: Gabriele Roza and Natalia Viana
Research: Gabriele Roza, Mariana Simões, Rogério Daflon
Translation: David Hauss and Lara Norgaard
