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Reshaping History: A Future for Our Past

The 3D-COFORM public exhibition resulted from an EU FP7 ‘Large Scale Integrated Research Project’ coordinated by Arnold. Its primary research question was: ‘What would it take to make 3D digitisation a routine practical proposition for cultural insititutions?’ Conceived to answer this, the exhibition was designed as a journey, taking visitors through a sequence of exhibits illustrating stages from digital data capture through analysis, restoration, reconstruction and communication. The presentation of the heritage content was designed to engage visitors’ interpretive capacity and imagination, to present the latest digital innovations in the heritage sector, and to stimulate informed debate with cultural professionals, policy-makers and the public. The narrative spans an integrated workflow, with zones in the exhibition addressing research questions at each stage, employing iconic examples of cultural heritage in interactive exhibits. Initial trialling of individual exhibits with the public in London and Southampton reinforced the value of this approach and helped to improve the interactive systems. The core exhibition was complemented by three other elements, exhibited in juxtaposed spaces: in terms of local material, one exhibit showed an experiment in reconstructing Pete Webster’s stolen 1997 statue of Steve Ovett from publicly supplied photographs; in another area, several different technologies were also demonstrated live, with the public and local curators offered the opportunity to bring in objects to be digitised; finally, a set of ten evening workshops was organised to illustrate the research behind each exhibit in more detail.

The Brighton exhibition subsequently toured in Italy (Naples National Archaeological Museum, Prato Piazza). Plans for showing in Egypt were disrupted, but selections of exhibits have been shown publicly in Cyprus, Berlin, London and Paris, and Brazilian funding committed for exhibiting in 2014. It is planned to convert the materials into an exhibition that can tour science centres. SEE DIGITAL PORTFOLIO.