Engaging with augmented reality is increasingly important for museums keen to promote access to their collections and engage younger audiences.
An augmented reality app is a popular way of doing this.
At the start of April, the Museum of Norwich’s, 17th Century wooden figure of Samson (from the Biblical story Samson and Delilah) became an augmented reality art object on the BBC Civilisations app.
In March, the Mary Beard and Simon Scharma-fronted Civilisations launched an augmented reality app to accompany the BBC television series.
The app showcases a 3d scan of objects selected from museums around the world.
As well as being painstakingly rendered, each 3d scan is interactive, with different points of each piece revealing a fascinating fact or story behind some of the pivotal achievements of human civilisation.
Having served as a mayoral house guard in the 17th Century; and in more recent times as a Norwich’s favourite nightclub doorman, Samson can now tick augmented reality off his list of achievements.
To create the augmented reality Samson, the figure was scanned at the Plowden & Smith studio earlier this year.
Museum of Norwich curator, Man-Yee Liu and our Senior Decorative Arts Conservator, Loredana Mannina were on hand throughout the process.
The 3d scan was carried out by a team of two, using portable hand-held scanning equipment.
The end result is a meticulously rendered 3d Samson that tells the fascinating story of his restoration in our studio.
This is not the first time that Plowden & Smith has been involved in the scanning of cultural artefacts.
Last year, the death mask of Lord Nelson, part of the collection of Westminster Abbey was scanned at St Thomas’ Hospital.
Plowden & Smith’s wax specialist, Valerie Kauffman worked with Westminster Abbey on this exciting project that saw Lord Nelson and William Pitt the Younger have their heads run through some of the most sophisticated scanning equipment in the world. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/03/off-with-his-head-3d-scans-reveal-lord-horatio-nelson-william-pitt-secrets
As a leading art restoration company, Plowden & Smith is committed to combining traditional techniques sympathetic to the age of the artwork, with up-to-the-minute knowledge of the latest developments in the science of conservation.
The inclusion of Samson on the BBC Civilisations augmented reality app shows not only the increasing role technology plays in shaping our understanding of historic objects, but also how technology can help share this knowledge.
The BBC Civilisations app can be downloaded from the app store.
To find out more about our work with Samson, or for general enquiries about our restoration service, please contact us.
