During the last few months we have been working with our colleagues in Cairo from the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation (EHRF) and Lazo Studios (https://www.lazostudios.co.uk/) on a digitisation project of intangible cultural heritage. The project “Linking collections with the living heritage of craft: enhancing communities through digital innovation” (2019-2022) seeks to gather requirements and engage with heritage practitioners and international communities to develop novel technology mediated methods in order to contextualise crafted heritage collections. As a result, the project aims to transform and reinforce the links between tangible artefacts in memory institutions in the western world and the intangible living heritage practice and knowledge in communities around the world. Such “transformations” have the potential to enhance the documentation of handicrafts collections, while nurturing the living heritage craft practices in developing countries to support communities to preserve the knowledge of craft; enhance crafting activities (or develop them further); and create sustainable futures. As demonstrated by international efforts, political, social, and economic inequalities can be substantially addressed when communities affected by them can be supported through initiatives that reinforce their sense of belonging and resilience through crafting and cultural practices.

During the project we have engaged with crafters in Egypt and the United Kingdom to explore the application of digital technologies for the documentation and dissemination of this intangible living heritage knowledge. This includes experimentation with technologies such as 360 video and photography, ethnographic film and photography, Reflectance Transformation Imaging, and 3D photogrammetry. Currently, we are investigating ways to provide open access to this information. Transmitting such invaluable knowledge is key to preserve the craft for future generations; to support the dissemination of the artistry and the skills which crafters display in the execution of their products; and to reinforce living heritage practices, while potentially improving branding of handcrafted products.

We have received funding from the International Research Fellowship (GCRF) at the University of Brighton and the Santander Research Placement fund. This research is core to our aims as we seek to develop novel digital technologies for the documentation, preservation, and access to both tangible and intangible cultural heritage processes and assets. Hence, our scientific research seeks to have practical applications and high impact to benefit different communities, including heritage institutions, audiences, as well as world-wide communities and their living heritage.

Myrsini Samaroudi, one of our PhD students at the CSIUS centre, has published the following article based on her research at the Conversation: How 3D printing is transforming our relationship with cultural heritage

In the article, she explore the recent trends for incorporating 3D technologies, including digitisation and 3D printing for allowing audiences to interact with cultural heritage both inside and outside heritage institutions. The research is part of her PhD project: Digitally fabricated 3d artefacts: their properties and dynamics in cultural heritage narratives for different audience groups.

On the 26th of January, the Archaeology Gallery at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery opened its doors to the public. This new exhibition illuminates aspects of the local history, highlighting some of the stories of Brighton & Hove inhabitants from the Ice Age to the Saxon Age. We were lucky to be involved in this project from the very beginning providing various of our expertise and services including digitisation and 3D printing.

One of the very early activities we did was to scan with high accuracy using structured light 3D scanners the skulls of human remains that were found in Sussex. These skulls have been 3D printed and deployed by the artist Oscar Nilsson as the basis to create physical forensic facial reconstructions of the people who lived and died in the area. Their reconstructed busts and stories about their daily activities are presented in the different sections of the Gallery.

3D scanning of skulls

3D scanned and 3D printed skulls from Brighton Museum archaeology collection.

Physically reconstructed faces at the museum gallery.

Aiming at creating multisensorial experiences in order to enjoy and learn about our past, many of the Gallery’s archaeological artefacts were also scanned and 3D printed. In this way, the visitors are able to feel objects that are usually out-of-touch in museums and exhibitions. Visiting the gallery, is great to see how these replicas were painted and incorporated into the exhibits.

3D Replica of the chalk block.3D replica of hand axe.

3D replica of Anglo Saxon coin.

Special interest has also been given to children and families, who will have the opportunity to have a first-hand experience in testing their skills in assembling 3D pottery puzzles like archaeologists do. The development of this pottery puzzle  was an interesting process, as we developed an approach which could be reproduced in order to test various ideas with regards to number and the size of puzzle pieces. The basic requirement was to have an interactive physical puzzle for kids to play with in the gallery. To do this, we use a digital 3D model of an authentic  pot displayed in the gallery acquired using 3D scanning. We then developed a digital workflow to break the pot into a set of digital fragments. These fragments are then 3D printed and post-processed to achieve the desired result. The final puzzle is a great addition to the gallery for children to interact with.

We published a research paper “Digital workflow for creating 3D puzzles to engage audiences in the interpretation of archaeological artefacts” describing this workflow at the Visual Heritage 2018 conference, an international event which brings together researchers in cultural heritage and new technologies. This paper won a Best Paper Award at the event.

Scientific research and knowledge transfer have been key to the design of the New Gallery and the collaboration between the University of Brighton and the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery is expected to continue to unveil our past and enrich our future with state-of-the-art technological applications and experiences. Our collaboration with the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery demonstrates the impact our research has to our local heritage institutions. By co-creating solutions with professionals at the museum we have been able to advance scientific knowledge, while ensuring this has a practical application to heritage professionals.

This research was, partly supported by the Impact Knowledge Exchange Fund and is also linked to Myrsini Samaroudi’s PhD on exploring the properties and dynamics of digital fabricated artefacts in cultural heritage narratives for different audience groups.

This month our collaborator, BrightInteractive, published in their blog a post of a recent project we developed during the summer:

https://blog.assetbank.co.uk/the-latest-research-on-artificial-intelligence-and-dam/

During this project, we experimented and compared existing AI systems with a system that was custom built. Our aims was to investigate if the existing products were trainable and whether they can recognise concepts which clients want to use to classify content.

For more information, we produced a report on this project if you would like to delve into the details.