New exhibition will be a riot at Nottingham Castle

An exciting exhibition will use the latest in augmented reality technologies to bring the Nottingham Castle riots and destruction of 1831 to life.

The anniversary of the 10 October riots that destroyed Nottingham Castle 182 years ago marks the start of the ground breaking RIOT 1831 @ Nottingham Castle project to enhance exhibition visitor experience through augmented reality.

The £125,000 project will be supported by the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts – Nesta, Arts & Humanities Research Council and public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The new exhibition will initially open on May 16th 2014, for visitor testing, then formally on July 4th 2014. An Open Day on the 5th September specifically for Museums and Arts organisations is a chance to speak to the people behind the project and learn from the projects journey and research outcomes.

The project will develop a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) app that will offer visitors an active role where they simultaneously interact with museum objects and animated first-hand witness accounts of the attack on the Nottingham Castle during the Reform Bill Riots of 1831.

Visitors will use their own tablets or smartphones to piece together the story of the destruction of the Castle and make their own decisions about whose version of history they believe. The issues surrounding the night’s attack have many modern day connections so there will be lots to discuss as a family or group.

The exhibition will enhance Nottingham Castle’s resubmitted bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund in November which looks to create a world-class visitor attraction at the site and to tell the story of the key events at the Castle over the past 1,000 years of its history.

To find out more about the project, please contact Adrian Davies, Project Lead at Nottingham City Museums & Galleries by emailing adrian.davies@nottinghamcity.gov.uk.