NC State’s Virtual MLK Project Headed to Smithsonian
NC State’s innovative Virtual Martin Luther King (vMLK) Project will be on display next month at the Smithsonian as part of a new festival highlighting innovative research.
“ACCelerate: ACC Smithsonian Creativity and Innovation Festival” is a three-day celebration of creative exploration and research at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., October 13 – 15. Faculty from the Department of Communication will attend the festival and present portions of the vMLK Project. Through three transmedia experiences (walk-in surround sound, gaming simulation, and virtual reality simulation), the vMLK Project allows visitors to immerse themselves in King’s historic speech, “A Creative Protest [Fill Up the Jails].”
NC State has participated in a yearlong process with the Atlantic Coast Conference, partner ACC universities and the Smithsonian Institution to create the festival, which aims to highlight work at the nexus of science, engineering, arts and design. Other NC State projects on display include “Insect Biobots for Search and Rescue After Natural Disasters,” “A Fashionable Response to Mosquito Protection,” and “Agua Furiosa/Dancing Chemical Reactions.”
The festival is free and showcases work from each of the ACC’s 15 universities in an opportunity for the schools to display their work to each other, and more importantly, to the public. In addition to 47 featured interactive installations, the festival will include panel discussions and performances throughout the three days.
The festival will be featured on all three public floors in the west wing of the National Museum of American History, located on Constitution Avenue between 12th and 14th Streets, NW, along the National Mall. There will be 47 interactive installations from across the 15 ACC schools around six thematic areas: civic engagement; arts and technology; sustainability and environment; biomimetics; health and body; and making and advanced manufacturing.
