Echoes of Freedom Opens at Liberty State Park
Visual artist and Saint Peter’s professor Trish Gianakis will launch an augmented reality exhibition at Liberty State Park on Independence Day, allowing visitors to access digital artworks through QR codes placed across the park. The exhibition, titled Resonances of Freedom, forms part of the wider America 250 AR Art & History Tour of Jersey City and combines location-based digital art with historic public sites.
Visitors will be able to use smartphones to scan QR codes positioned at designated locations throughout the park. Once activated, the codes reveal animations, virtual sculptures and other augmented reality works that are digitally anchored to the surrounding landscape. The installations exist only within the augmented reality experience and become visible after visitors follow the digital prompts on their mobile devices.
The Liberty State Park exhibition is one element of the wider America 250 AR Art & History Tour. Additional augmented reality installations have been developed for the Museum of Jersey City History at the Apple Tree House, the Paulus Hook Monument, and a virtual 360-degree experience based on a digital recreation of the Statue of Liberty’s crown. Each installation is linked to a specific location through QR codes that activate the digital content.
Gianakis has taught at Saint Peter’s since 2018 and has established her practice around augmented and virtual reality artworks that are experienced through connected devices rather than displayed as physical objects. Her work focuses on placing digital exhibits in physical environments, allowing visitors to interact with them via mobile devices.
The exhibition will open on 4 July at the Liberty State Park Terminal, where an information tent for the Art & History Tour project will welcome visitors. Gianakis will be available between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. to explain how the installation operates, while eight Saint Peter’s student volunteers will assist participants. Visitors can then follow the designated route along the Liberty State Park waterfront trail to access the various augmented reality installations positioned throughout the exhibition area.
The Liberty State Park presentation features 25 augmented-reality works created by various artists. Unlike conventional exhibitions, the digital exhibits do not require physical removal once the opening event concludes. The works are scheduled to remain accessible in their virtual locations until summer 2027. The augmented reality Statue of Liberty installation associated with the project will also remain available during that period.
Gianakis said the project had been in development for a year and was supported by Saint Peter’s, Liberty State Park, the Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs and the augmented reality companies Illust. Space and Balanced Forces. She said the project was developed to coincide with the America 250 commemorations and incorporates locations such as the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Jersey City waterfront.
Gianakis holds a master’s degree in computer art from the School of Visual Arts. She said her interest in digital technology developed from an early age through her father’s computer engraving business, which produced signage for city hospitals and the NYPA. She has worked with augmented reality since 2019 and said advances in software have made the medium more accessible for artists.
Her improved, and her virtual reality works have previously appeared in group exhibitions, although no major solo exhibition devoted to her enveloping work has been staged locally. She said only a small number of artists in the region specialise in immersive media and that many practitioners working in similar fields are based in the Bronx and Brooklyn. The Liberty State Park exhibition represents the latest public presentation of her location-based augmented reality projects as part of Jersey City’s America 250 programme.
