Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

The Unfiltered History Tour is an AR guerrilla tour of the British Museum’s disputed artefacts.We created Instagram Filters that scan heavily disputed artefacts on display at the Museum. From Egyptologists, to the seventh descendant of the Gweagal Shield - 10 experts and underrepresented colonial voices, play tour guide in narrating the true histories of artefacts from their homelands. The authenticity of the Tour led to social media hot takes being replaced by debates. Within its first month, personalities like Shashi Tharoor, Marc Fennell championed the campaign. On TikTok, users created videos of the tour generating 1.3 million earned views.

Background

The British Museum is the world’s largest receiver of stolen goods with over 8 million objects - that’s a lot of potentially looted artefacts. But for centuries, we’ve only heard the imperialist version of how they got there. An equitable environment can only be created when silenced voices express the intergenerational trauma caused by colonial loot. Brief To place VICE World News at the forefront of conversations around colonialism and challenge dominant cultures by opening up dialogue to countries around the world to create a balance in the way history has been told. Objectives 1. Give a platform to underrepresented minority voices to share their accounts of artefacts that belong to their country. 2. Re-ignite the ongoing conversation on repatriation and postcolonialism with VICE championing marginalised voices. 3. Educate young people about the untold side of history using a tool as accessible as Instagram filters to tell unfiltered stories.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

The Unfiltered History Tour is an alternative interactive tour of the British Museum’s disputed artefacts through Instagram Augmented Reality filters and immersive audio. Visitors scan disputed artefacts and unfilter their true histories, through first-ever visual depictions of scenes of colonial crime and 10 native experts, who play tour guide in narrating the true histories of artefacts from their homelands.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Through an exhaustive selection process in consultation with an art historian, disputed artefacts with an imperialist narrative were chosen, with equal representation across continents and cultures - Jamaica, Easter Island, Egypt, Greece, Nigeria, Ghana, Iraq, India, China and Australia. Authenticity was at the forefront of the project, in collaboration with native experts from 10 countries who presented a side of history never seen or read in textbooks or by the Museum. This approach went against the mainstream narrative around colonial artefacts pushed by major publications and the Museum itself. We went social-first and spoke to young people on platforms they were most likely to take notice of - Instagram, Tik Tok, Spotify, Apple Music. Call to action Visitors to the British Museum were invited to experience another side of history by taking the Unfiltered History Tour. And people across the globe could unfilter

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The Unfiltered History Tour was developed by a 100-person strong team working remotely for 18 months across 10 timezones. We got expert voices from the countries these artefacts belonged to - Ghana’s Ernest Domfe and Haki Shakur, Nigeria’s Victor Ehikhamenor, Egypt’s Heba Abd el Gawad, Iraq’s Max Joseph, Jamaica’s Sharifa Balfour, Greece’s Petros Apostolakis, Australia’s Claire G Coleman and Rodney Kelly, China’s Fu Yiwen and Rapa Nui’s Tarita Alarcón Rapu and Sergio Rapu. Their accounts of the intergenerational trauma and suffering of their ancestors, along with the looting of their cultural treasures formed the bedrock for the extended 10-part podcast series and Instagram Augmented Reality filters that launched in December, 2021. To account for changing lighting conditions in the Museum LiDAR (Light Detection Ranging) was employed to create a first of its kind dynamic auto adapting Instagram Filter that blends satellite data with Augmented Reality.

List the results (30% of vote)

In its first month, the campaign has received endorsement from former UN Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor, award-winning journalist Marc Fennel and the British Committee, amongst others. Earned media worth $631K 32 million social impressions 40% rise in TikTok followers and 49% increase in total impressions on Instagram 21,583 podcast downloads and 5,200 filter uses (in 30 days) Change in behaviour According to a 2014 survey, 59% of Britons were proud of the British Empire. In a poll conducted weeks after the Tour was launched, 59% of Britons said they believed the Parthenon Marbles (part of the Tour) belonged in Greece. The podcast series let us go a lot deeper with the project and give audiences something heavily educational, not found in British history textbooks. What some users had to say after taking the tour: “Confronts and challenges colonial origins.” “Hearing the past told by multiple perspectives gives depth.”

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

For centuries we’ve only heard the British, imperialist account of colonial artefacts, across history textbooks and museum plaques. Considering the danger posed by a single narrative, an equitable environment can only be created when those whose voices have been muffled for so long have the opportunity for expression of the intergenerational trauma caused by colonial loot and loss. Something had to change - we had to make room for minority and underrepresented voices.