The Library, including centre members Catherine Dack, Jo Elsworth, Stephen Gray and Tamar Hodos, have been working on a project around 3D scanning, digital humanities, museums and virtual reality.
Below are some updates on the project so far.
The virtual museum project, an AHRC-funded project between Cultural Collections and Library Research support. The project is completed now, but the museum persists and there will be a programme of exhibitions. Catherine Sack had a stand at the Up Late event at SS Great Britain on Friday, part of FUTURES festival to introduce the museum to the public and got lots of good feedback.
A little bit about the project….
The Uncertain Space is the new virtual museum for the University of Bristol. It is the result of a joint project between Library Research Support and Cultural Collections, funded by the AHRC through the Capability for Collections Impact Funding, which also helped fund the first exhibition.
The project originated in a desire to widen the audience to some of the University’s collections, but in a sustainable way which would persist beyond the end of the project. Consequently, The Uncertain Space is a permanent museum space with a rolling programme of exhibitions and a governance structure, just like a physical museum.
The project had two main outcomes: the first was the virtual museum space and the second was the first exhibition to be hosted in the museum. The exhibition, Secret Gardens, was co-curated with a group of young Bristolians, aged 11-18 and explores connections between the University’s public artworksand some of the objects held in our rich collections. The nine public artworks were captured by 360 degree photography. In addition, the reactions of the young people were recorded as they visited each of the public artworks and these are also included in the exhibition.
If you get a chance, check out the museum and exhibition either in person or virtually- it is really fascinating! For more information on that, please see the links below.
The museum and first exhibition can be visited on a laptop, PC or mobile device via The Uncertain Space webpage, by downloading the spatial.io app onto a phone or VR headset, or by booking a visit to the Theatre Collection or Special Collections, where VR headsets are available for anyone to view the exhibition.