Violence broke out in Nottingham on the night of 10 October, 1831, when the House of Lords rejected reforms to increase voter representation in England’s industrialised cities.
The castle’s owner, the Duke of Newcastle, paid a hefty price for opposing this reform bill when his castle was burned down by the rioters.
The castle was rebuilt and repurposed as a museum in 1878. And now, more than 180 years later, the Riots 1831 Gallery explains to visitors what happened that night.
The exhibition was developed in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham and was supported by the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts in England, a £7m fund to support collaboration between arts organisations, technology providers and researchers.
The fund is a partnership between Arts Council England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and innovation charity Nesta.
Riots 1831 uses augmented reality to enhance its content – Nottingham Castle is one of a growing number of cultural organisations using this technology to bring objects to life with animation, sound and words.
“Augmented reality has a massive amount to offer for museums,” says Adrian Davies, the design and display projects manager at the museum. “It gives the immediacy that visitors want. Lots of them don’t want to spend hours reading stuff, they want something that they feel that they can control and gives them the headlines.”
Visitors in the exhibition are encouraged to use suspended tablet devices, which can be used to call up additional material, images and reconstructions that relate to the artefacts and accounts of the riots.
If they hover a tablet over a lace scarf, they will see threads turn into words describing life during the riots. Or if they hold it over the physical model of the castle (showing the Duke’s residence as it would have appeared the night of fire), animated rioters run through the rooms asking for help to stack furniture so they can set the castle alight.
Other cultural institutions are finding that augmented reality is an effective way of engaging children with their collections. The British Museum runs a number of digital sessions for young students, including one entitled A gift for Athena, which sees children explore the Parthenon Gallery using tablets.
Launched last September as part of the museum’s relationship with technology firm Samsung, these sessions challenge children to complete puzzles about the works on show, using tablets.
“We want students to come away with new skills in how to look at the composition of a sculpture, by interacting with the different mythical characters on display in the gallery, all enabled by augmented reality,” says Lizzie Edwards, the education manager of the Samsung Digital Discovery Centre at the British Museum.
This kind of technology can also be used remotely. The Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts ran an 11-month project, Taking Artwork Home, ending last March, which allowed users to create their own exhibition from its collection, including items not currently on display.
Museums are building their own augmented reality experiences too, with companies such as Blippar that construct tailored apps. The use of headsets and 3D glasses has also become popular and in August the British Museum opened a digitally immersive dome for their Virtual Reality Weekend to create a sense of time travel.
There are a number of ways to fund digital projects. One option is through partnerships with, or sponsorships from, technology giants, and there is also help to be found in funds including the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts.
While a museum might be keen boost its digital credentials, it is worth keeping in mind that the most successful projects are always driven by what is tangible – the objects and artefacts on show or in the museum’s collection.
Augmented reality at the British Museum
“When using augmented-reality technology, museums must be careful about using narratives dependent on objects being in place long-term – if the works are going to rotate every three months such a linear narrative won’t work.
“Ensuring the lighting is correct is also key, so that when a visitor picks an object to discover more about it, the app will recognise it immediately – different apps have very different capabilities.”
Lizzie Edwards is the education manager of the Samsung Digital Discovery Centre at the British Museum, London
The castle’s owner, the Duke of Newcastle, paid a hefty price for opposing this reform bill when his castle was burned down by the rioters.
The castle was rebuilt and repurposed as a museum in 1878. And now, more than 180 years later, the Riots 1831 Gallery explains to visitors what happened that night.
The exhibition was developed in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham and was supported by the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts in England, a £7m fund to support collaboration between arts organisations, technology providers and researchers.
The fund is a partnership between Arts Council England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and innovation charity Nesta.
Riots 1831 uses augmented reality to enhance its content – Nottingham Castle is one of a growing number of cultural organisations using this technology to bring objects to life with animation, sound and words.
“Augmented reality has a massive amount to offer for museums,” says Adrian Davies, the design and display projects manager at the museum. “It gives the immediacy that visitors want. Lots of them don’t want to spend hours reading stuff, they want something that they feel that they can control and gives them the headlines.”
Visitors in the exhibition are encouraged to use suspended tablet devices, which can be used to call up additional material, images and reconstructions that relate to the artefacts and accounts of the riots.
If they hover a tablet over a lace scarf, they will see threads turn into words describing life during the riots. Or if they hold it over the physical model of the castle (showing the Duke’s residence as it would have appeared the night of fire), animated rioters run through the rooms asking for help to stack furniture so they can set the castle alight.
Other cultural institutions are finding that augmented reality is an effective way of engaging children with their collections. The British Museum runs a number of digital sessions for young students, including one entitled A gift for Athena, which sees children explore the Parthenon Gallery using tablets.
Launched last September as part of the museum’s relationship with technology firm Samsung, these sessions challenge children to complete puzzles about the works on show, using tablets.
“We want students to come away with new skills in how to look at the composition of a sculpture, by interacting with the different mythical characters on display in the gallery, all enabled by augmented reality,” says Lizzie Edwards, the education manager of the Samsung Digital Discovery Centre at the British Museum.
This kind of technology can also be used remotely. The Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts ran an 11-month project, Taking Artwork Home, ending last March, which allowed users to create their own exhibition from its collection, including items not currently on display.
Museums are building their own augmented reality experiences too, with companies such as Blippar that construct tailored apps. The use of headsets and 3D glasses has also become popular and in August the British Museum opened a digitally immersive dome for their Virtual Reality Weekend to create a sense of time travel.
There are a number of ways to fund digital projects. One option is through partnerships with, or sponsorships from, technology giants, and there is also help to be found in funds including the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts.
While a museum might be keen boost its digital credentials, it is worth keeping in mind that the most successful projects are always driven by what is tangible – the objects and artefacts on show or in the museum’s collection.
Augmented reality at the British Museum
“When using augmented-reality technology, museums must be careful about using narratives dependent on objects being in place long-term – if the works are going to rotate every three months such a linear narrative won’t work.
“Ensuring the lighting is correct is also key, so that when a visitor picks an object to discover more about it, the app will recognise it immediately – different apps have very different capabilities.”
Lizzie Edwards is the education manager of the Samsung Digital Discovery Centre at the British Museum, London
