The Fluid Archive is an immersive Virtual reality and Augmented Reality installation that reconstructs the Mughal-era architecture of Lahore’s Walled City as an explorable virtual world. Visitors walk through gateways, courtyards and facades rebuilt by hand, then watch the city shift into a speculative future, asking what heritage becomes when memory is carried into digital space.
The work grows out of my classical art training inside the Walled City itself. Every arch, jali screen and tile pattern was studied, sculpted and textured to hold the texture of a place that is changing fast.
The installation extends beyond the headset through projection mapping, QR-activated AR overlays featuring speculative flying rickshaws, and 3D-printed sculptural fragments that connect physical and virtual space.
"The Fluid Archive" Virtual reality Experience, Meta quest 3
"The Fluid Archive" Video Sequence 3d render
PROJECTION MAPPING ON 3D PRINT "MASTI GATE"
PROJECTION MAPPING ON 3D PRINT "CHAUBURJI"
PROJECTION MAPPING ON 3D PRINT "ALAMGIRI GATE"
PROJECTION MAPPING ON 3D PRINTS
FLYING RICKSHAW 3D PRINT
FLYING RICKSHAW 3D PRINT
FLYING RICKSHAW 3D PRINT
FLYING RICKSHAW 3D PRINT
The installation extends beyond the headset through augmented reality. Activated by QR codes, reimagined flying rickshaws, trucks and buses appear as animated forms within real space, carrying the archive into everyday environments. See the full project: https://umarbashir.com/flying-rickshaw-ar
Scan with your phone to see the flying vehicles in augmented reality.
FLYING RICKSHAW
FLYING TRUCK
FLYING VAN
Flying Rickshaw, augmented reality, recorded on location at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
FLYING TRUCK, augmented reality, recorded on location at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
FLYING VAN, augmented reality, recorded on location at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
