Impact case study database

Higbee’s work has increased access to the archives of Moroccan cinema globally; created opportunities for emerging filmmakers in Morocco; and changed awareness of, and interest in, Moroccan films on an international level for both audiences and industry professionals. Specifically, the following impacts have been achieved:

1. Safeguarding and promoting works of historical significance

At the TMC conference ‘Morocco in Motion: the global reach of Moroccan Cinema’ (Edinburgh, October 26-28, 2018), writer and director Farida Benlyazid revealed that her pioneering feminist film A Door to the Sky was stored at the CCM. The film had been considered “lost” as it did not have English subtitles and the French subtitles needed review, and the original 35mm film had deteriorated. Determined to make it available to a Moroccan and international audience, Higbee’s team shipped the film to the UK, where it was restored, subtitled in English and French, and digitised. It was then donated to the filmmaker and placed in the CCM archive in Rabat. [ 5.1]

Higbee then persuaded the CCM to celebrate a world premiere of the restored film at the National Film Festival in Tangiers, for an audience of almost 300. [ 5.2] It has since played at a number of international online festivals during the Covid-19 pandemic, including the Africa in Motion Festival (28/11/20, 57 views) and the Being Human national festival of the humanities (21/11/2020, 44 views). Clear evidence of the film’s new lease of life as a result of Higbee’s work can be seen in its inclusion by the CCM in a selection of 25 films key to Moroccan film history that were streamed free online during March and April 2020 – viewed by 2,220 people in Morocco.[ 5.2]

2. Changing attitudes within and about Moroccan cinema

In December 2016, as part of the Marrakech International Film Festival (MIFF), in collaboration with the Moroccan Chamber of Film Producers (MCFP), Higbee organised a round-table discussion about the state of the Moroccan film industry. The event was attended by more than 100 industry professionals and academics, including CCM director Sarim Fassi Fihri [ 5.3]. At a time of perceived crisis for the Moroccan film industry (with no Moroccan films having been selected for the MIFF), it provided an opportunity to formulate a collective strategy. Key industry figures present committed to meeting twice a year in a forum that continues the initiatives begun by TMC.

“After the Marrakech debates, we created a ‘National Coordination’, involving trade unions and professional organisations in the sector, aimed to set new priorities, and [meet] challenges such as the great one of winning back our own audiences and defining a cultural policy. We will continue this work and hope to bring more attention and confidence to Moroccan filmmakers.” – Ahmed El-Maanouni, former president of the MCFP [ 5.4]

At the Morocco in Motion conference, TMC invited a diverse selection of 15 Moroccan artists and industry practitioners to participate in a series of round-table discussions in Edinburgh. Those who attended described how it had allowed a constructive debate to flourish:

“Today I met people I did not have the opportunity to meet in Morocco. Thank you for having made this meeting possible, because I find this event priceless. It’s really exceptional to have the time and the opportunity to speak intelligently with so many people [about Moroccan cinema], to meet some of you for the first time.” – film producer Lamia Chraïbi [ 5.5]

Higbee’s research has led directly to greater international collaborations for the Moroccan film industry. Between 2017 and 2019, he consulted for UK production company Hurricane Films for a commercial feature film, Beatrice and Her Father, set in Morocco, advising how to navigate funding and co-production and brokering meetings with their eventual co-producer, Lamai Chraïbi. Shooting is due to commence in spring 2021. Hurricane Films have described Higbee’s contribution as ‘ invaluable’. [ 5.6]

3. Creating opportunities for emerging talent

Higbee’s research team organised debates at international film festivals between young and established professionals, enabling for the first-time interactions between these different generations of Moroccan cinema. In addition, working in collaboration with the LFS (2017-2019), Higbee delivered a series of pitching and cinematography workshops in Tetouan, as well as two residencies for emerging Moroccan filmmakers in London [ 5.7]. Activist filmmaker Nadir Bouhmouch participated in both TMC conferences, and Higbee’s research team has promoted his work through online interviews and research publications.

“It gave me the opportunity to meet filmmakers whose films have been influential and dear to me for so long. ... This has given me a renewed determination at a time when I was beginning to feel hopeless and isolated.” – Nadir Bouhmouch, after the 2016 conference in Marrakech [ 5.7]

Bouhmouch has since participated in the prestigious Venice Final Cut development programme and his latest documentary was selected for leading documentary festival Hot Docs (Toronto). Higbee has also introduced Bouhmouch’s work to a wider range of film festivals and filmmakers. As a direct result of Higbee’s recommendation to the festival, The Folk Film Gathering (Edinburgh) screened Bouhmouch’s latest documentary at the 2020 online edition of the festival, inviting the filmmaker to participate in a filmmaker roundtable, where Bouhmouch established a collaboration with renowned British documentary collective Amber. [ 5.9]

French-Moroccan filmmaker Sofia el Khyari found participation in the Edinburgh conference and the screening of her film Ayam at the AiM film festival (see photo [ 5.1]) a similarly transformative experience: “ I returned to Paris, with my head full of projects, inspiration and ambition!! … I can't thank you enough for inviting me and promoting my young work to everyone.” [ 5.7]

Higbee’s project promoted further transnational talent development through collaboration with the London Film School (LFS) and the International Film School Film Festival in Tetouan (FIDEC). Two Moroccan documentary-makers spent a term in residence at the LFS in spring 2017, developing new projects (see Janjague and El Hachadi testimonies [ 5.7]), while Higbee and a delegation of LFS staff and students were invited by Abdelmalek Essaadi University to participate in the third FIDEC festival in November that same year. They returned in 2018 and 2019 to deliver three further pitching and filmmaking workshops for around 70 young Moroccan filmmakers, providing significant support and feedback to those seeking national and international funding for projects. In 2018, Higbee presided over the festival jury [5.1].

4. Extending audience reach and challenging perceptions of Moroccan cinema

By collaborating with the UK’s leading African film festival, Africa in Motion (AiM), and its partner organisations over the past four years, Higbee has increased understanding of the significance of Moroccan cinema in an African context. More than 500 people saw Moroccan films programmed at the festival as a result of TMC’s involvement. AiM producer Justine Atkinson’s testimony explains that TMC’s influence on curatorial practices enabled “audiences to navigate a carefully curated programme of film screenings and events, therefore increasing their knowledge and access to Moroccan cinema at a time of disproportionally low levels of public exposure to Moroccan films”. [ 5.9]

The number of Moroccan events programmed at AiM rose from two in 2016 to nine in 2018, while the Moroccan film Transes (El Maanouni, 1981) was picked up by two other UK festivals: Watch Africa Cymru, in Wales (November 2017), and Open Colour, in Bristol (April 2019). TMC also delivered masterclasses with Moroccan filmmakers and panel discussions following screenings, which introduced new audiences to Moroccan film culture, and positively changed attitudes towards North African cinema, which has often been seen as separate from sub-Saharan African cinema. [ 5.9, 5.10]

1914FACES2014 examined how the mutilated faces of soldiers injured during WWI influenced medical practice, social and political history, the arts and philosophy. In particular, it considered how the radical forms of surgery pioneered at that time owed a debt to artists and, conversely, how the cultural legacy of ‘les gueules cassées’ (the ‘broken faces’, as they became known) continues to shape our experience and perception of disfigurement.

Challenging public perceptions of disfigurement and maxillofacial surgery

Veteran Simon Weston at the Faces of Conflict exhibition at RAMM, Exeter

Two exhibitions foregrounded the debt of maxillofacial surgery to early 20th-century collaborations between surgeons and artists. A touring exhibition that visited Seale Hayne in Newton Abbot (June 5-29, 2014) and the University of Exeter Forum (February 25 to March 26, 2015) juxtaposed portraits and sculptural works made from military uniforms, while a three-month exhibition at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) from January-April 2015 displayed medical materials alongside portraits, collage, drawings and sculptures. Both featured a variety of public events with speakers including surgeons, poets and veteran and disfigurement campaigner Simon Weston [5.1].

Visitors’ responses to the exhibitions offer powerful evidence of impact. 63,680 visitors were asked about their perceptions of disfigurement, likely reactions to disfigurement before and after the exhibition, and the ways in which artworks can influence these perceptions. 480 gave questionnaire feedback demonstrating that the exhibitions’ impact was to challenge ‘assumptions of what a face should be/do/look like’ [5.1: #132].

Comment cards show it helped people react to disfigurements in a more considered manner. ‘ Everyone should view this exhibition,’ said one. ‘It helps us to understand and perhaps next time we see a disfigured person we will not rudely stare.’ [5.1: #8] Another said: ‘ It made me realise that it isn’t a laughing matter.’ [5.1: #112] Overall, it changed opinions on disfigurement, with an indicative response being ‘ I now have more respect for disfigured people’ [5.1: #48].

Visitors with personal involvement in reconstructive surgery [5.1: #123, #134, #139, #140, #143, #148] suggested that it was productive to hear about its history [5.1: #143] and that ‘ the techniques pioneered by Gillies and McIndoe and others [are] still being practised today’. [5.1: #134] They also noted that the exhibition showed an often-overlooked aspect of facial surgery: ‘[It] is widely believed to be a vain specialty. However 90% of plastics is reconstructive post trauma/burns/cancer. This exhibition helps to change people’s mis-held views.’ [5.1]

As well as providing insights on surgical history and practice, and eliciting a number of personal resonances, the responses illuminate two ongoing debates in our society: ways of representing war, and perceptions of beauty and disfigurement. Response 14 demonstrates visitors’ realisation of the importance of this work: ‘This should only be the beginning of a large cycle of exhibitions which should question images of “ideal faces” in the media which surround us.’ [5.1]

Significant regional media coverage attests to the high level of engagement, with pieces in the Western Morning News, Plymouth Herald, Mid Devon Gazette, BBC Spotlight, Radio Devon, ITV South West, Phonic FM and fashion blog ShowStudio. [5.2] Charity Changing Faces declared that 1914FACES2014 had ‘contributed to raising awareness of disfigurement as a social issue and led to a change in perception from people who experienced the programme’. [5.3]

Developing professional practice of educators, artists and charities

The project team consulted with UK-based charity Changing Faces, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and a teachers’ focus group in May 2014, before creating a range of educational resources for students at Key Stage 3. Changing Faces identified the need to challenge negative and stereotypical representations of disfigurement as ‘an urgent priority’. “Perceptions are bound up with long-standing traditions of facial expression and beauty, and these are shaped by visual media including painting, photography and film.” The exhibitions and teaching materials were conceived to address the charity’s assertion that “understanding these media is key to understanding, and reconfiguring, contemporary perceptions of disfigurement”. [5.3]

The teachers’ focus group identified that PSHE often raises questions of appearance, self-image and discrimination in a general way [5.4]. In response, the PSHE materials produced offer a focused case study [5.5]. In AQA History GCSE, the topic on ‘medicine through time’ includes a sub-section on surgery in the industrial modern world, which focuses on WWII pioneering burns specialist Archibald McIndoe but doesn’t cover the key innovations of Gillies et al during/after WWI. [5.4] The resources address this, offering students insight into this important era. [5.5]

A pilot project was held with Year 8 students at Penrice Community College (St Austell, Cornwall) in 2014, followed by two sessions for Year 10 students at the University of Exeter in April 2015. Exhibition-related sessions for schools (run by Jones and Gehrhardt) involved students from King Edward Sixth College in Totnes, West Exe School in Exeter (January 2015) and St David’s School, Exeter (February 2015). A further session at RAMM was run for members of Blackdown Hills Artists and Makers by project curator Cristina Burke-Trees in February 2015 [5.6]. Additionally, a two-hour session for Exeter University of the Third Age (U3A), an organisation for retired people with formal links to the University of Exeter, took place on July 5, 2016. Presenting FACES research and discussing the ways in which non-academic audiences have engaged with it so far, it included a Q&A session focusing on perceptions of disfigurement, user reactions to exhibition materials and how perceptions can be shaped by visual media. Questionnaires from the 24 participants were evaluated in July 2017 [5.7].

For the project’s artist in residence, Paddy Hartley, the research-rich environment had deep implications for his practice: ‘Presenting in both the conferences/ workshops and in Faces of Conflict helped place and contextualise my work alongside my artistic/academic peers dealing with complementary themes relating specifically to facial injury/surgery across conflicts and generations.’ [5.7] As well as recontextualising his work in a medical humanities context, installation of the Yeo crossword at RAMM led to ‘a fundamental shift in the way in which I make artwork’, including heightened emphasis on the implications of research findings and how media and materials can produce rich engagement with histories of disfigurement [5.8], as seen in his later residency and contribution to a permanent display at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (2016-).

West Exe School staff created their own web page relating to Faces of Conflict, including extracts from the 1914FACES2014 Exeter website intended to stimulate discussion, both in class and in field study. These educational sessions also fed into development of Gehrhardt’s professional practice, including undergraduate teaching and outreach activities [5.6].

The collaboration represented the first time Changing Faces had been involved in working on an education programme for this age group. ‘It enabled us to understand how research can be communicated to schools, which subsequently led us to review our approach to formal education routes.’ Overall, the impact ‘enabled [us] to build our knowledge of the historic context of the area and extend our campaign for face equality using new platforms’. [5.3]

Inspiring students to interact with academic research

The Year 8 pupils in the Penrice pilot project, who were considered unlikely to achieve any GCSEs, showed a clear enthusiasm for contact with university research. Esther Oldrieve (teaching staff) noted pupils’ fascination with individuals’ stories, their willingness to contribute their own experiences and draw links to modern-day examples, and how it sparked debate within the group [5.6]. Teachers felt the human element of the lesson helped develop empathy and understanding and were keen to include similarly research-led teaching in future practice.

During the Year 10 sessions at the University of Exeter, students explored archival materials from IWM and visual sources prepared by Hartley. They discussed issues of morale, prejudice and visual representation which they said they had not previously considered. Teachers found it stimulating as it emphasised aspects not normally engaged with in class and noted the inspirational effect of academic research on the students [5.6].

Elena Fortún: reviving the cultural and literary legacy, and inspiring and co-creating new forms of artistic expression, commemoration and memorialisation

Since 2015, titles published under Capdevila-Argüelles’s co-directorship of the Biblioteca Elena Fortún series, and those drawing on Fortún’s work and collaboration with other mothers of Spanish feminism, enjoyed great commercial and critical success. El camino es nuestro [ 3.2] – an anthology of Elena Fortún and Matilde Ras’ work co-edited by Capdevila-Argüelles – marked the beginning of Fortún’s revival. Now sold out, it paved the way for De corazón y alma [ 3.4], a collection of Fortún’s correspondence with Carmen Laforet, had two editions (2,600 copies) sell out in less than three months [5.1] and a theatre adaptation produced in the Conde Duque Theatre in April 2017 [5.2]. Meanwhile, new critical editions of Fortún’s previously published ‘Celia’ work transformed this saga in Spanish children and teenage fiction into bestselling women’s history books (with sales of more than 20,000 [5.1]). Renacimiento, which publishes the Biblioteca Elena Fortún series, has strategically strengthened its portfolio of recovered feminist writers, culminating in the award of two prizes for its feminist memorialisation work [5.1].

Fortún’s previously unpublished autobiographical novel, Oculto sendero, now a best-seller, was named one of the books of the year by El País in 2017. Widely reviewed and praised in Spanish media [5.1], the book also sparked a surge of international interest in its author’s significance as a feminist and lesbian thinker in turbulent 20^th century Spain. Examples include a discussion with Capdevila-Argüelles on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour in May 2017 [5.1], annual talks to schools in Somerset and Devon as part of the Horizon lecture series [5.3], and the English translation with a foreword by Capdevila-Argüelles, promoted by Instituto Cervantes-Chicago in December 2020 [5.1].

Fortún’s life and works are the subject of two sold-out theatre adaptations at Centro Dramático Nacional in 2019 and 2020. The director of the centre expressed appreciation for the ‘invaluable contribution’ of Capdevila-Argüelles’s published research to these productions. The ‘rigorous work of theoretical research carried out around the writer was highlighted’, creating an ‘initiative that restored the contribution of a writer who, due to incomprehensible and unacceptable prejudices, had been displaced to an unjust and discreet place in the canon of contemporary Spanish literature’ [5.2]. Meanwhile, the stage director and playwright María Folguera asserts her reliance ‘on the existing bibliography on Elena Fortún, in which Nuria Capdevila-Argüelles plays a decisive role, so much so that Capdevila-Argüelles features as a character in one of the plays’. [5.2]

The former minister of education, Ángeles González-Sinde, states that Capdevila-Argüelles’s research shows today’s feminists ‘are not alone’ and that ‘young people know that the feminist plight is not new and has a history that belongs to them’. Leading cultural figures such as the writers and journalists Almudena Grandes and Elvira Lindo, and Octavio Salazar (jurist, lawyer, writer and queer activist), have also underlined the impact of Capdevila-Argüelles’s work, with Grandes noting that it ‘has been fundamental to the recovery of such important authors as Elena Fortún, of whom […] we now know that she was much more than the great creator of Celia's books’. Lindo writes that ‘we owe it to Nuria Capdevila-Argüelles’s work to know the mothers of our feminism continued to be faithful to their vocations despite exile’, and Salazar praises Capdevila-Argüelles for bringing to light and explaining the dimensions of ‘Fortún’s rebellion against heterosexuality and patriarchy’. Judge Balaguer has specifically mentioned the influence of Capdevila-Argüelles research methodology in her book Que Nadie Muera Sin Amar El Mar [5.4; 5.5]. Finally, reinstating Fortún in Spanish cultural life led to official acts of public recognition in Spain and the UK, including public building renaming in Madrid in 2016 [5.6] and the official launch of one of Capdevila-Argüelles’s outputs [3.2] at the Spanish Embassy in London in 2015, with Spanish ambassador praising Capdevila-Argüelles’s critical essays for ‘making us aware that Elena Fortún, Matilde Ras and others made great contributions to Spanish literature’ and for ‘raising them up from oblivion’ [5.7].

Las Sinsombrero and CartasVivas: new cultural and educational products re-establishing forgotten Spanish feminist figures

Las sinsombrero, described in a 2016 article on RTVE as ‘the first big Spanish transmedia project’ [5.8], is a two-part TV documentary series with a host of associated educational and cultural programmes, first launched in 2015. The project is defined by series director Tania Balló as a ‘visual translation of the “uncertain authorship” explored by Capdevila-Argüelles in her books’ [5.8]. Spanish for ‘the hatless women’, it is now a term used to group women authors and artists from the 1927 Generation, whose recovery, legacy and memory is at the centre of Capdevila-Argüelles’s research.

Capdevila-Argüelles acted as an official advisor and one of the ‘talking heads’ for Part 1, and as advisor, narrator and script writer for Part 2 in 2018. When Part 1 was first aired on TVE 2 on 15/10/2015, Las Sinsombrero broadcast to 250,000 households, and having moved to an online catch-up service, was seen 25,000 times in the first six months. The accompanying educational material was accessed 45,000 times online in the first 12 months, with the time spent on the page surpassing ten minutes. Official RTVE data show that the documentary reached a target audience of 18-35 year olds – a significant departure for the channel, which has a typical audience of over-45s [5.8].

The educational part of the project was developed in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Education, and in 2016/17 was included in the curriculum of the fourth year secondary and second year Baccalaureate education. Capdevila-Argüelles has also delivered multiple school talks sponsored by the ministry [5.8]. The second part of Las Sinsombrero premiered in Abycine Festival (26/10//2018), in Madrid (09/03/2019) and on national TV during the week surrounding 2019 International Women’s Day (audience: 321,000 households). Social media posts written by Capdevila-Argüelles on Las Sinsombrero Facebook and Twitter pages prompted users to comment that ‘words cannot describe how important learning about the past is’ (14/03/2017) and that ‘I look for and buy every book that you recommend in your page’ (12/05/2017) [5.8].

Capdevila-Argüelles’s work influenced other activities and enterprises such as Proyecto Wemen (a multimedia project showcasing men’s views on feminism), card game Theatre Against Oblivion, feminist tourist walks Herstoricas (in Madrid and London) and the cultural tourism project Rutas Teatrales. Her research of a ‘field […] forgotten by official history but […] of great importance for the construction of collective memory’ informed the design of the tour Mujeres que inspiran (Inspiring Women) taken by over 200 people on a single day – International Women’s Day in 2019 – as part of official City of Madrid activities. Herstóricas meanwhile assert that her research ‘and, most importantly, her methodology’:

‘…has inspired us to always challenge the absence of women in any cultural space and to rethink our cities and their history as herstory. Through works like Nuria’s Artistas y precursoras, Autoras inciertas, her extensive critical editions of Fortún […] we have rediscovered a genealogy, worked with other feminist groups and scholars, developed our cultural walks, workshops and our card game ‘Herstóricas Pioneras. ’ [5.9]

In 2019, in collaboration with Fundación Banco de Santander (FBS) and the University of Barcelona, Capdevila-Argüelles launched CartasVivas (registered patent 4015976), a series of short films featuring acclaimed Spanish actors reading letters and memoirs by women intellectuals and artists from the Spanish avant-garde, featured in Autoras inciertas and Autoras y precursoras. For FBS, which normally does not fund university-based work, this project is a culmination of the ongoing relationship with Capdevila-Argüelles. Critical reviews across a number of national and international media platforms, including El País, El Mundo, Guardian, ABC, and many others, have hailed the importance of the project in making invisible women visible today. The project engages with audiences beyond academia via the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, which has showcased the project in Edinburgh, Stirling and Glasgow in 2019 and 2020 and via its digital platform [5.10].

Capdevila-Argüelles’s ‘reputation as a leading feminist scholar’ led to a collaboration with Avalon Production Company on a biopic of Hildegart Rodríguez, one of the ‘autoras inciertas’. Avalon testimony declares that Capdevila-Argüelles has had a ‘critical impact on our project […] liaising with the creative team […and] revising versions of the script’. They add that the field of historical feminist memory is becoming more alive in Spain, influencing the publishing industry, film, theatre and television, and that ‘Prof Capdevila-Argüelles’s skills have no doubt played a key role in this’ [5.9].

Confirming her influence abroad, a recent evaluative review of Capdevila-Argüelles’s work in the literary supplement of Argentine broadsheet La Nación notes that pre-Francoist women’s history has finally been connected with post-Francoism, and that the importance of the public, private and secret lives of women, along with the need to know about the impact of gender violence and discrimination in all three, has been understood by Hispanic audiences and those interested in Spanish history and culture, influencing public debate as well as cultural, educational and political development [5.1].

The HiddenFlorence App, published as a free app for Apple and Android, is an immersive experience blending academic research, digital media technology, and place-based heritage tourism. The app was developed in collaboration with Calvium Ltd, and in partnership with Florence city authorities, Florence UNESCO office, and Polo Museale della Toscana and the Mus.E civic museums. As an innovation in digital place-making, HiddenFlorence’s impact has been on enhancing methods for the presentation of heritage and cultural sites, improving the quality of tourism-led learning experiences through digital technology, and contributing to urban heritage planning and strategy.

Improving Tourism-led Learning Experiences

Since its first release in 2014, HiddenFlorence has now been downloaded around 12,000 times in over 40 countries. During the period covered by a 2017-8 report it was used in over 7,000 unique sessions, in Florence (2,177) and globally (5,001); 81% of downloads originate from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada, whilst 45% of active user sessions originate in Australia, USA and Canada, with 38% in the UK [5.1]. Since its update in July 2019, the revised app has been downloaded a further 4500 times, and the length of each engagement has increased substantially. The re-launched app has been supported by a social media campaign, via Twitter, Instagram and Airbnb. Project partner networks have helped maximise visibility of the app through Polo Museale della Toscana, Comune di Firenze – UNESCO office, Mus.E, Museo degli Innocenti, and the National Gallery, London. As an example of user engagement a month-long campaign with the National Gallery in August 2020 resulted in over 120,000 impressions and 15,000 views [5.2]. In November 2020, it won the UK App Awards’ “Best Use of VR/AR in an app” award.

In-app feedback indicates user satisfaction at 80% positive. On GooglePlay, the app scores 4.9/5 overall; on Apple iStore, it has a five-star rating. Comments [5.1] include: “[The app] adds fantastic layers of depth to the city. You feel like a detective following faded clues that only you can see” (Phil); “Walking around Firenze with Giovanni gives you a feeling for what it must have been like to live here centuries ago” (Robert). The app also featured in the 2016 Christmas Special of the popular Channel 4 Travel Man series with Richard Ayoade and Hollywood actress Rebel Wilson, broadcasting to an estimated audience of 1.7million [5.3]. Certifying the app’s innovative blend of heritage presentation and augmented reality technology, Wilson comments: “It’s kinda like playing PokemonGo but with historical sites” [5.3]

Enhancing marketing strategies for commercial entities

An indication of the influence of the HiddenFlorence can also be suggested through its impact on the British cosmetics company Lush. Linked to Lush opening its first stand-alone Perfume Library concept store in Florence in November 2019, developers based their own ‘perfumed guide to a city’ on HiddenFlorence: “the reinterpretation of the cityscape to deliberately include the sense of smell as part of Lush's launch of a new concept store and fragrance collection is probably not one of the predicted outcomes of your work on the app but I feel it is a very valuable one.” The guide was an app to work as a treasure hunt with Florentine locations linked to their five newly launched perfumes. Lush repeated this concept for Soho in November 2019 when they launched their perfume collection in London and is now an integrated component of their own app, Lush Labs [5.4].

Contributing to Urban Heritage Site Management Strategy

The locative media research that drives HiddenFlorence has provided transformative cultural impacts in the relationship between visitors and their cities for regional tourist authorities. The Florence UNESCO directorate approached Nevola to work on a new iteration of the app in recognition of its relevance to their “fundamental objective” to focus attention on the “decentralisation of tourism, extending the network of cross-city itineraries to include sites with potential for ulterior development” (The Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Florence, 19.1.16, pp 76, 81 [5.5]). In 2019 the app was noted as an exemplar of the application of the Management Plan, highlighting its usefulness in moving footfall from overcrowded sites to less well-known areas: “the effectiveness of these tools in redirecting the movement of the intelligent tourist, through informed storytelling and a playful approach to navigation of the city” [5.5]. For Dott. Carlo Francini (Director of Historic Centre of Florence), HiddenFlorence “has opened up completely new ways for us ... We are now looking at other ways in which we can use mobile digital technologies to open the city up to visitors and significantly extend the area … they visit in the city” [ 5.6]. Meanwhile, Nevola is working with five new cities to establish a ‘Hidden Cities’ platform, and has also been approached by Venice, Bologna and Mantua.

Impacting on Presentation of Heritage and Culture

HiddenFlorence’s pioneering use of geo-locative digital media and augmented reality provides a valuable tool for urban storytelling, enhancing the presence of tangible and intangible heritage, and creating cultural value [ 5.7].

The digital reproduction of a 1584 map combined with Google Maps capabilities enables users to explore medieval Florence. Developers Calvium Ltd state: “the juxtaposition of an ancient map with its interactive digital form creates a powerful connection between the past and the present... we envision a long and collaborative journey across multiple cities, spanning a host of universities. Hidden Cities is about academic research and development in combination with public engagement and education.” [5.8]. HiddenFlorence’s six trails offer the cultural heritage of the wider cityscape as a curated experience, introducing micro-histories alongside culture, language and place-based storytelling. Dott. Carlo Francini described this as “a wider perspective of history, heritage and culture of the city to be told to both local residents and to visiting tourists. It makes a curated museum experience of the entire city, and encourages participants to know about this social and cultural ‘alternative’ history of the city. It has changed … the digital ways that we can present these urban histories on a world stage” [ 5.6].

For Nicholas Terpstra, renowned expert on digital historical mapping techniques, “current trends in historical mapping are to … map what at first may seem unmappable – smells, sounds, emotions– and to make … the connections between the early-modern experience of life in the city and the spatial and sensory profiles of that city. A particularly vivid example is the Hidden Florence app ... Geo-location in the app allows users to transport themselves into the streets as they were walked and experienced by ordinary Florentines in the 15th century. Users are thus introduced to the power of neighbourhood and local ties in early modern Florence and can understand how such a small city, physically, could contain so much variety of experience and people. Hidden Florence shows us the neighbourhood rivalries and hierarchies that underlay the spatial organization of the city.” [ 5.9]

Recent new developments have extended the activity of the app’s reach and engagement. HiddenFlorence3D (see above) ], news coverage in the UK and Italy and transformative impacts on local residents’ understanding of their neighbourhood (as documented in a short film, also shared on social media, ‘A neighbourhood story’. As one resident noted “Thank you for doing this. Digitisation will be very important for us and especially for our grandchildren and those who will come after. Because, if there was no such research, the memory really fades very quickly”. [ 5.10]. Meanwhile, a newly funded project is leading to the extension of the format and the creation of HiddenCities for 5 new cities in which close collaboration with local museums and their collections is part of the app design. In 2019 HiddenFlorence was awarded the ‘App prize’ at the Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies, Vienna, a heritage-practitioner focused conference. [ 5.10].