As Chicago plays host to architecture buffs and design fans during the Biennial, an upcoming event harkens back to another time when the city and its buildings commanded a global audience. Exploring the White City and Its Architects, a one-day event at the city's Museum of Science and Industry on October 24, offers something fans of Devil in the White City have been clamoring for, a chance, however briefly (and digitally), to tour the 663-acre site of the famous 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The work of UCLA Professor and architectural historian Dr. Lisa M. Snyder, the simulation is more IMAX than Oculus Rift; viewers are given a tour of the grounds on a large screen they can't steer, though it will be narrated in part by Tim Samuelson, the cultural historian for the City of Chicago. According to Jeff Buonomo, the museum's manager of temporary exhibits and events, the once-a-year event has taken place for roughly the last decade, but every year, Snyder adds more digital real estate to her model, slowly finishing interiors and placing additional building as she discovers and processes more source material (mostly black-and-white photos). Even when stacked up against modern events and festivals, the scale of the Exposition is still impressive.
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