Open the File | Adriana García: Memory and Displacement in Augmented Reality
In this episode of Open The File, Adriana García, a multidisciplinary designer and founder of AGar Estudio, opens her archives and shows us the entire process behind a very personal project: an Augmented Reality experience that documents the displacement of the community from the former San Mateo neighborhood in Cangrejos, now known as San Dulce Park in Santurce. Adriana takes us from research to execution: how she reached out to affected residents and families, her work with paper, wood, and illustration alongside AR technology, and the technical challenges of recreating homes and people who are no longer there. We also discuss memory, community, the role of art in the face of gentrification, and why “your neighborhood is next” remains a timely warning. A project born out of her digital art residency at the Puerto Rico Museum of Art (MAPR) and nearly 100 years of family history in Santurce. Why should you listen to this if you’re a designer? Because it’s a case study in how to combine multiple disciplines—branding, illustration, paper, and AR—in the service of a message, and how to make design decisions with ethical responsibility when the subject matter is sensitive: you’ll see firsthand the research process, community engagement, and technical execution behind a project that isn’t commercial, but rather one rooted in memory and community. And as always, ask yourself: What problem are you facing?
