The Unfiltered History Tour with VICE World News
The Unfiltered History Tour is a guerrilla tour of the British Museum’s stolen artefacts. Using Instagram Augmented Reality filters
VICE World News is a newly formed brand that provides global news reporting for young audiences internationally.
The challenge was to grow their cross-platform audience by cutting through a crowded media environment while sticking to their editorial mission of placing Vice at the forefront of conversations around under-reported issues like colonialism. We had to connect with a younger readership and find a way for them to embrace these issues beyond news headlines and hot takes on social media.
Insight
The Unfiltered History Tour is a secret tour of the British Museum’s stolen artefacts via Augmented Reality. However, instead of adding dog ears to a selfie, the same technology was re-engineered to scan and identify life-sized 3D artefacts in differing light conditions throughout the day, to showcase first-ever visual depictions of scenes of colonial crime without the Museum’s knowledge.
When visitors use their smartphones to scan the museum’s stolen artefacts, the relevant filter is activated via geolocation. They hear native experts narrate the true histories of how they were stolen, as first-ever visual depictions of scenes of crime form a contextual overlay over the artefact in real-time using Augmented Reality.
While the British Museum’s narrative portrayed the colonies as helpless in the face of British aggression; AR in smartphones was used to tell history from the perspective of the colonies, as formidable foes who fought to save their cultural treasures.
Creative Idea & Execution
The Unfiltered History Tour is a guerrilla tour of the British Museum carried out via Instagram filters by making use of Augmented Reality that the internet is no stranger to. However, instead of adding dog ears to a selfie, the same technology was re-engineered to scan and identify life-sized 3D artefacts in differing light conditions throughout the day, to unfilter centuries of colonial narrative.
In this alternative interactive tour, visitors can scan 10 disputed artefacts of the museum and see them being teleported back in time to their home countries, with experts from their homelands playing tour guides by narrating the true story of the loot of these treasures, with Augmented Reality being used as a subversive contextual overlay. Those who aren’t at the British Museum can unfilter history from wherever they are in the world, with immersive audio-video experiences and extended podcasts hosted on the Unfiltered History Tour website.
