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Visualising the Past

From comic books and films to digital design and extended realities, members of the centre have worked on and supported an array of creative history research projects. We are interested in how artists and designers can develop innovative, complex and resonant engagements with the past.

Digital Heritage

Digital Heritage is an interdisciplinary research area that investigates how digital tools and emerging technologies can be applied to document, preserve, interpret, and share cultural heritage. We examine the value, use, and impact of these technologies in heritage contexts, aiming to create innovative ways of understanding and engaging with cultural heritage in an ever increasing digital and connected world.

Heritage Science, Environment and Communities 

There is an intrinsic link between heritage science, environment and communities; they all inform and support one another. We are discovering new ways to bridge between them, facilitating innovative scientific methods and fostering collaborations between institutions, with scientific, environmental and community impact, all under the umbrella of heritage. 

Conservation of (In)Tangible Heritage

Heritage takes many forms — from archive, museum, and library collections to historic buildings, archaeological sites, oral histories, and living traditions. It includes both the tangible and the intangible: physical objects and places, as well as memories, customs, and cultural practices. We explore and develop ways to preserve this diverse heritage, ensuring it remains accessible and meaningful for both present and future generations.

Daddy the Porcupine fish is talking to me! What should I do??

What would you do if museum objects could talk?

This project explored how people engaged with interactive museum artefacts at the Cumberland House Natural History Museum in Portsmouth. Using photogrammetry, they digitised museum taxidermy artefacts to develop an interactive experience to engage audiences with the museum collection.

Image credit: Dr Argenis Ramirez Gomez 

Palaeoecology at Fishbourne Roman Palace

Have you ever wondered what the landscape looked like when the Romans were here?

One of our local funded projects is looking for answers, in collaboration with Fishbourne Roman Palace. The project is investigating what the environment around the Palace was like before the Romans were there, and how this changed while they were here, and what happened when they left. Samples will be examined in the lab to look at which species of plants were growing in the area 2000 years ago.

The Sound of Worthing Pier: an immersive experience of the past. 

What cherished memories do people have of Worthing Pier?

Collaborating with local community arts group Creative Waves, Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, and Adur and Worthing Council, this research project centres on the cultural heritage of Worthing Pier.  It investigates creative ways of preserving, curating, and communicating the Pier’s heritage, using new approaches to audio-visual representation and by foregrounding the sonic experience.  This utilises immersive audio-recording (ambisonics) and AI (artificial intelligence) film editing to enhance the immersive experience of representations of the past, and the preservation of contemporary sonic environments. 

Image credit: Steve Whitford

Tyneham Unravelled

Did you know that there is an abandoned village on the coast of Dorset?

Tyneham is a village that was evacuated during the Second World War to be used as an army training ground for D-Day. Despite the military association, the village is now visited by thousands who enjoy its tranquillity and association with nature. 

This ���������� project is collaborating with the Ministry of Defence, the local community, and others, revealing the hidden narratives of the site. The project uses creative methodologies to record and protect social, political, cultural and ecological heritage. 

Image credit: Lucy Sarjeant