A young man in 18th Century Glasgow, leads us on a powerful journey of over 500 years of resistance through the streets of the Merchant City down to the River Clyde. The story at the heart of Ghosts was inspired by adverts placed in newspapers for the capture of escaped enslaved people in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland in the 17th and 18th centuries. These adverts have been collated in the “Runaway” Slavery project, which has seen the creation of a searchable archive of hundreds of real newspaper advertisements that were published by the city’s slave-owners seeking, and often rewarding, the capture and return of the enslaved people who had escaped their service.
Audiences are invited to download a bespoke app, to plug in their headphones, and immerse themselves in this AR experience exploring the myth of the collective amnesia of slavery and racialised wealth, of empire and identity, and of being lost and found in space and time. Using extraordinary visuals and sound design, Ghosts will take audiences on a physical and emotional journey, walking through the heart of modern Glasgow. A lament to lives lost and an impassioned call to action in the present day. Ghosts can be downloaded from either the App Store for Apple or Google Play for Android devices.