The document discusses the ethics of combining immersive fictional storytelling with factual interpretation and historical objects in cultural heritage institution exhibitions. It then provides examples of how the British Library is exploring digital curation and born-digital manuscripts, including the digital archive of poet Wendy Cope and a panoramic view of writer Hanif Kureishi's study. It also introduces Christopher Green, the British Library's first Artist in Residence, known as "The Singing Hypnotist."

1. The ethics of situating immersive
fictional storytelling alongside
factual interpretation and historic
objects in cultural heritage
institutional exhibitions
Stella Wisdom, Digital Curator
@miss_wisdom
Blog: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/

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The British Library is the
national library of the UK
We receive a copy of every
publication produced in the UK and
Ireland
From 6 April 2013, legal deposit
covers e-books, e-journals and
other types of electronic
publication
Plus other material that is made
available to the public in the UK on
handheld media such as CD-
ROMs and microfilm, on the web
(including websites) and by
download from a website.
http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/legaldeposit/

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Over 170 Million items
are stored in London and in
Yorkshire
If you saw 5 items a day
it would take you 80,000
years to see the whole
collection
http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/quickinfo/facts/

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Born-Digital Manuscripts and Personal Digital Archives
The Wendy Cope Archive
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/10/british-library-digital-archives

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Born-Digital Manuscripts and Personal Digital Archives
Enhanced Curation: Hanif Kureishi's writing study
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/hanif-kureishis-writing-study
Panoramic view of writer Hanif Kureishi’s study created by taking a series of
photographs of the room and digitally stitching them together to make one image.

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Living Knowledge sets out the
British Library’s vision for its
future development as it looks
ahead to 2023, the year of its
50th anniversary as the national
library of the United Kingdom -
See more at:
http://www.bl.uk/projects/living-
knowledge-the-british-library-
2015-2023

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Christopher Green, aka The Singing Hypnotist
The first Artist in Residence at the British Library, and
supported by the Wellcome Trust.
The Singing Hypnotist will change your life. He uses songs
to heal, transform and put you under. It’s a combination of
clinical hypnotherapy, stage hypnosis, original music and
good old fashioned showbiz.
The Singing Hypnotist may be a showman, even a snakeoil
salesman, but his skills are based in the latest scientific
research. How would it be if he really could help you let go of
pain and painful habits? Who is to say that every word he
sings isn’t true? What if you’re laughing too much to notice?
http://christophergreen.net/singing-hypnotist/

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Material relating to Victorian entertainment collected by the conjuror, ventriloquist and humourist
Henry Evans Evanion (1832-1905) during the course of his long career.

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14. www.bl.uk 14https://www.bl.uk/shop/overpowered/p-293
An accredited hypnotherapist and
performer himself, Christopher
examines the connections between
stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy or,
in other words, the point at which
showbiz meets self-help and sleight-
of-hand meets scholarly research.
Featuring intriguing stories about the
larger-than-life characters who
inhabit the world of hypnosis. From
Professors of Mesmerism to Princes
of Necromancy, this book explores
the different guises of hypnotism as
portrayed by pseudo-scientists and
showmen alike.

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Contemporary performance inspired by Victorian Entertainments
exhibition
Characters from the Victorian Entertainments: There Will Be Fun exhibition
brought to life by a company of actors and performers.
These specially commissioned contemporary performance pieces were
inspired by the source material on display in the exhibition.
There Will Be Fun Repertory Company conceived and directed by Christopher
Green.
Evanion: Ian Harvey-Stone
John Nevil Maskelyne: Andrew Dowbiggin
Miss Annie De Montford: Joanna Holden
‘Lord’ George Sanger: Pete Cunningham
Dan Leno: Tony Lidington

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Undercurrent Theatre were the British Library’s first Associate Theatre Company.
Partnership began in 2016 with the critically acclaimed production ‘Calculating Kindness’. This
was researched over three years using the personal archives of evolutionary biologists
George Price and W.D. Hamilton, which are held at the Library.
The play brought to the public the little known true story of George Price, and inspired Price’s
own daughters to donate further papers of their father to the British Library

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Rob Sherman - Black Crown Project
“Black Crown represents Random
House’s ambition to push the
boundaries in online storytelling,
experiment with new business
models and launch a new author
in a groundbreaking way,”
Dan Franklin, Digital Publisher

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Rob Sherman - Black Crown Project

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Rob Sherman - Black Crown Project

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Lines in the Ice - Seeking the Northwest Passage
British Library Exhibition
14 November 2014 to 19 April 2015

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
http://onmywifesback.tumblr.com/

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
Sir John Franklin Lady Franklin

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were lost on the ill-fated Franklin expedition in
search of the Northwest Passage in 1845

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
“A false multimedia history of Isaak Scinbank, the ‘Arctic Angler’ of Mill Dale’”
http://onmywifesback.tumblr.com/post/100107314408/scinbank

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
Isaak Scinbank’s ship The Otranto

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
Isaak Scinbank’s ship The Otranto

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
The Digital Cairn

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back events

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
Rob’s event in the gallery on Saturday
17th January was the 2nd most visited day
of Lines in the Ice with 926 visitors

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Rob Sherman – On My Wife’s Back
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/collectioncare/2014/11/the-salmon-
book-conservation-in-reverse-.html

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“As you can see, Zoe and Royston's work on my book is
unequivocally art, not merely conservation. On display in the Lines
In The Ice exhibition until the middle of April, our book sits alongside
the 'true' artefacts of polar exploration almost imperceptibly, tricking
the public without malice and camouflaging its story, its biography,
amongst the degradation upon which the Library is built. In doing so
it hijacks a small, respectful amount of the value, respect and
meaning which the very old are due. The loveliness of this
deception will be amplified when I finish Isaak's story, some day;
then, the book will accessioned into the Library's archives, where it
will begin to truly disintegrate rather than just playing at it. One day
even further in the future, the book will come back to its birthplace in
the Conservation Centre, that squat building full of silent discourse
and argument with the past, and plead its case.”
Rob Sherman
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/collectioncare/2015/04/the-house-
of-lords-commoners-and-everybody-else.htm

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“I have so enjoyed reading about Rob Sherman's residency. I, along
with 4 other artists, am working with Somerset Heritage Centre in
Taunton, exploring and making work about the collections stores. I
discovered the conservation department, and like Rob have been so
impressed by not only the books and paper and parchment and
bindings, but the depth of knowledge of conservators and curators
alike.”
Comment by Jacy Wall on Rob Sherman’s Collection Care blog post
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/collectioncare/2015/04/the-house-of-lords-
commoners-and-everybody-else.htm

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Notebook Label
Scinbank's Sea Journal
This notebook was Scinbank's record of his 1852-1853 voyage to find John Franklin. It
details everything he encountered, from rivers to snatches of song. The book was never
intended for a life at sea: it is a type of angling journal popular in the mid-1800s. The notch
along the top edge was designed to support the owner's fishing rods, allowing him to write
without disturbing his bait. The book’s striking appearance, designed to emulate the pallor of
salmon flesh, was often commented upon; Scinbank himself recorded an instance when a
passing Eskimo hunting party asked him, via his interpreter Eluf Kjaer, why he carried a
whale's heart under his arm!
You are welcome to read Scinbank's journal, but remember that this is a delicate artefact.
A Gorging Chronicle, For Gentlemen Angling, used by Captain Isaak Scinbank as a sea
journal. Thomas Whiflick, Derby. 1847.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This fictional journal has been created as part of On My Wife's Back, the work of Writer-In-
Residence Rob Sherman, in partnership with the Eccles Centre and CreativeWorks London.
The book will be added to during the course of the exhibition, and will need to be removed
ocasionally for Rob to make these additions.

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David Normal

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British Library Collection on Flickr

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David Normal created light boxes around the
Burning man, using the British Library’s Flickr Images
The Crossroads of Curiosity Installation
at Burning Man Festival

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The Crossroads of Curiosity Installation at the British Library
June to November 2015
The installation featured an “augmented reality” self-guided tour enabling viewers
to explore the meaning and origins of the painting’s symbols using Blippar.
www.crossroadsofcuriosity.com
http://www.bl.uk/events/the-crossroads-of-curiosity-installation

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Imaginary Cities Exhibition
5 April to 14 July 2019
Michael Takeo Magruder

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4 city maps chosen from the 50,000 found by volunteers on
BL Flickr Commons 1 million

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Chicago
• Homage to
Frank Lloyd Wright’s
– organic modernist architecture
• 1 day’s data -
Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday
• Hardwood
• Vectorised image
• Laser cut
• UV pigment
laser-engraved sapele hardwood with UV light-reactive inlay
1530 × 1530 × 10 mm

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London
•Sound algorithmically
generated
•Rorschach Inkblot
•Real time animated
real-time algorithmic triptych with soundscape (Flash)
customised 4K LED screens with silver-gilded frames
infinite duration, 3805 × 708 × 43 mm
Rorschach inkblot
(centre point of art work, covers 3 screens)

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Paris
•Uses 4 sets of data
each 3 months long
(2018)
•Cotton board, gilded
with 24 Carat gold
•Design printed on
•Mandela design
•Precious object
algorithmically generated monoprints on
24ct gold-gilded cotton board
950 × 950 mm (each)

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New York
• Virtual reality projection – ¾ building height (1 piece)
• Oculus VR experience – slightly above ground level (1 piece)
• Downloads data from Flickr Map of New York from previous day
• Creates a base city map from which a 3D ‘City’ is created through
Unity 3D
• 10 minute cycle (5 m day and night)
• Never repeats
• Transcendent sound track
• Art deco / Bladerunner aesthetic
real-time virtual environment (Unity3D) with soundscape
(Flash) infinite duration

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@miss_wisdom
Digital Scholarship Blog
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/