The Centre des Monuments Nationaux has been at the forefront of employing cutting-edge technologies to highlight the cultural sites in its network. Abla Benmiloud-Faucher, Head of digital and innovation at the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, discusses the many ways in which this initiative can benefit the public.

How has the CMN implemented a policy of technological and cultural innovation?

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – At the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, I’m Head of Strategy and Digital. Together with my team, we manage the entire digital transformation of the CMN network – which currently includes redesigning of all our one hundred or so websites! As for innovation, we’re running a heritage incubator (link) that welcomes project leaders with open innovation projects, and we’re experimenting with the creation of third places. More recently, we obtained funding from the PIA4 “Digitisation of heritage and architecture” scheme to make better use of digital representations of our monuments and develop new forms of mediation, particularly at a distance. This is why we are now at the head of a public-private consortium with three partners: Mira, My Tour Live and Mazedia.

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – Within these initiatives, and more specifically the PIA4, we are focusing on reducing the carbon footprint of our work. We are partnering with ZenT (link) in this area within our incubator, to draw up a real survey of our energy consumption and pinpoint the areas where we can reduce our ecological footprint.

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – For us, digital experimentation has many facets. Whether we’re talking about virtual worlds or site-specific interactive works, we co-produce immersive experiences for the general public. We were among the first to experiment with augmented reality in a historic monument, at the Abbaye de Cluny (2010). This experience was recently revamped, retaining AR as a medium: it provides significant on-site use value. In 2016, we installed the Histopad from the company Histovery at the Conciergerie, taking a fresh look at the history of the premises. It is now included in the admission fee. Since then, we’ve worked with start-ups such as Opuscope… Each time, the added value is clear: to go back in time and show what is no longer visible.

How have you developed VR and AR experiences in your networks?

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – In 2019, we presented “Terra Incognita”, a virtual reality work by Mari Bastashevski at the Château d’Oiron, in the middle of a stunning Renaissance gallery. Several projects followed, but were delayed due to COVID. I’m talking in particular about the Timescope kiosks, FlyView with Backlight, with aerial tours of several monuments (to be seen in Paris), Lady Sapiens created by Camille Duvelleroy (Prod. Little Big Story, Ubisoft, France Télévisions) at the Abri du Cap Blanc in the Dordogne or Archi VR created by Gordon (Prod. Lucid Realities, Centre des Monuments nationaux, Fondation Le Corbusier), at the Villa Savoye in Poissy. We are in a real experimental phase, to better understand the potential in terms of mediation and dissemination at both national and international level.

It goes without saying that the “Archi VR – la villa Savoye” virtual reality experience provides a better context for the Villa Savoye (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) for our French and international visitors. It is a mediation tool that allows visitors to experience the villa over time and across the seasons, something that is not possible in the few hours of a traditional visit. And of course, it also makes a fantastic addition to the visit of the site itself!

Julia Blonce, Assistant to the Administrator, Villa Savoye

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – We enthusiastically embraced the Archi VR project, a captivating collection of immersive experiences centered on architecture. We’re convinced that the subject is perfect for virtual reality. Renewing the audience is also clear, and remains an interesting criterion for us. Our question today is above all about the distribution of such an experience. We’re not yet at the point where we can leave the headset to the public without a mediator. So we need to think about ways of financing the presence of an extra person to manage the equipment and so on.

Archi VR – The villa Savoye : From 18 February to 31 August 2023 – 11h, 11h30, 14h, 14h30, 15h, 15h30 and 16h

What work is currently on show, in particular at the Villa Savoye?

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – Archi VR – La villa Savoye (to be seen at the Villa Savoye this year – a restored building overseen by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux) is a playful way of exploring the work of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Thanks to the work of writer and director Gordon, we’re immersed in a highly poetic narrative and universe. We are also able to handle the model before taking a virtual tour of the villa. Although the VR experience is currently presented directly in the villa, we hope to be able to tour it internationally and promote the monument. But we’re only just getting started, and I hope to be able to share some feedback and key figures in the near future. It’s vital that we analyse our initial steps to make the distribution process more fluid, especially in terms of human resources management and digital training…

We worked closely with the Lucid Realities team and the Fondation Le Corbusier to make the most of existing archives. And there are plenty of them! Guided by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux at the production stage, we stayed in contact with the artistic team to ensure the quality of the representations of the villa and the associated educational content. For all that, Archi VR is a fun and entertaining way of discovering Le Corbusier and architecture, no matter whether you’re an expert or not. 

Julia Blonce, Assistant to the Administrator, Villa Savoye

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – We also wanted to test the Lady Sapiens experience in different venues, to see if it had any impact on broadening our audience base. In terms of visitor numbers, it’s obviously complementary. The experience is clearly suited to venues dedicated to prehistory. We still need to do a lot of educational work, especially for our teams, to reassure them that VR is not a replacement for existing media but a complement to them. Similarly, to market our experiences effectively, we need to be able to incorporate them into the admission fee.

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – Lastly, we have also experimented with a partnership with a VR operator to maximise the distribution of VR experiences, and this is where FLYVIEW comes in. The DNA of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux is to innovate, with the aim of pooling the solutions found for several sites in our network. It’s an operation with interesting communication objectives for us, highlighting certain monuments that are less well known than others.) Technically, it was also a question of using ‘real time’ on the basis of a digitisation of the Mont-Saint-Michel. We hope to be able to re-use certain assets on several projects, improve immersion, etc.

Is it easy to integrate immersive artworks into your establishments?

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – We have found that CMN visitors are often new to virtual or augmented reality, and that this is their first experience. It’s clear that the two formats are being adopted and that people are happy with them, even if we have to differentiate between the two. Augmented reality still has a long way to go in terms of usage and maturity – particularly if you include social media. For obvious operational reasons, we are still working on essentially pay-per-use solutions (with very affordable prices of just a few euros). Augmented reality has now been ‘industrialised’ at the CMN, notably via our audioguide market. As far as virtual reality is concerned, we are still experimenting, and this needs to be consolidated in our next projects. The aim is to improve the reception of these new interactive proposals, beyond a merely technological gimmick, and therefore to find a real model that meets our quality criteria.

Abla Benmiloud-Faucher – Our strategy is to highlight our monuments. Given this consideration, it is essential for us to establish a well-defined distribution and profitability model as a co-producer, as we mutually share revenues with the producers. It is in this sense that the future of immersive works, within a network such as the CMN, is potentially towards large-scale exhibitions such as Emissive’s immersive expeditions (Eternelle Notre-Dame…) which we feel are exceptionally relevant. To reach out to the public in third places and at international level, we need to increase the number of visitors. Here too, our main responsibility is to provide support and conduct testing before implementing a comprehensive model throughout our network. Additionally, we are currently involved in a project alongside Fabien Barati and his teams, which is currently being funded for a monument near Carcassonne.

© Lucid Realities, Centre des monuments nationaux, Fondation Le Corbusier