Abidjan is hosting the 5th regional forum of the French Institute, “Our Future,” from April 20th to 22nd. The focus of this edition, held across various locations in Abidjan, is to shed light on the challenges of preserving heritage and memories through the lens of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI). Among the proposed solutions by speakers is the digitization of endangered architectural heritage.
Erosion, rising waters, climate change, armed conflicts… The threats facing African architectural heritage are numerous. To address these challenges, the startup Iconem, benefiting from institutional funding (UNESCO, embassies, French Institute, British Council), conducts missions to digitize endangered architectural heritage.
The technology utilized, explains Franco-Lebanese Bachaar Tarabay, in charge of scientific projects at Iconem, is called photogrammetry. “It’s a technology that involves taking thousands of photos according to a precise framework and parameters to reconstruct an identical digital twin of a site. We use drones, cameras… And what we do in training missions is that we provide the same equipment to the actors we are training so that they can themselves scan the rest of their heritage in their country.”
Togolese Nicolas-Etienne Sohou N’gani attended the roundtable. An expert consultant in culture, tourism, and development, teaching audiovisual heritage management at the Senghor University of Alexandria (Egypt), he leads a project with a similar objective but has opted for a different digitization technique: immersive 360-degree video.
To make Togo’s natural and architectural treasures accessible to its population, his pilot project offers itinerant virtual exhibitions. “The majority of the population resides in rural areas and may not have access to museums. For us, the goal is to bring this heritage to these populations with virtual reality headsets, hence the organization of itinerant exhibitions. For example, we held exhibitions in markets, where our mothers may not have had the time to visit places. We brought these sites to them,” he explains.
“In front of her stall, she wears the headset, she virtually changes location, she goes to visit a site that is hundreds of kilometers away from her market,” details Nicolas-Etienne Sohou N’gani. “Like the Tata Tamberma, the only site in Togo listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the palace of Lomé, which has been restored into a cultural center after being occupied by the German and French governors, the House of Slaves… One woman testified that it is interesting because it allows them to know what to answer their children when they ask questions about local culture,” he adds.
Nicolas-Etienne Sohou N’gani has also embarked on digitizing Togo’s intangible heritage, such as traditional dances and folktales, to preserve it for future generations.
This initiative highlights the importance of leveraging technology and innovative approaches to safeguard and promote African cultural heritage for posterity.