Immersive exhibits, augmented reality, video games? The museum world’s next game will be played in a world somewhere between real and virtual

History is replete with examples of how innovation (technological, technical, artistic) is the result of ingenious insights that have “dared” to challenge the status quo: the recent one, especially in the field of marketing, tells how this phenomenon has intensified in relation to the enormous strides made in the field of tech.

The museum world cannot avoid following these trends that, through the hybridization of the real and the virtual, are deeply marking our cultural experiences.Here are some examples to be inspired by in order to rethink the Italian museum and museum display in a new key, the key of tomorrow.

Augmented reality (in make-up) for an immersive museum experience

Augmented reality was discussed in the article The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) revolution for museums., especially in the area of Make-Up.

By Astra Make Up, the made-in-Italy brand that offers the chance to test its products directly through your smartphone by viewing apreview of one’s face in makeup, we had talked about it.

Another example, however, is Perfect Corp, a Taiwanese company specializing in virtual beauty, is known to consumers for its“YouCam Makeup” beauty app, which allows users to “try on” virtual samples of more than 300 global brands, including those of beauty conglomerates Estée Lauder and L’Oréal Paris.

What should be of interest, however, is Perfect Corp’s (and soon Astra’s) technology, which is also used for in-store retail, e-commerce and social media.

The museum of tomorrow will necessarily have to look to and be inspired by such benchmarks as well, because they testify to how the integration of technology through artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality will unlock truly significant benefits. These include the amplification of digital sales channels, greater personalization and deeper customer/visitor engagement, among others.

An example? Here it is.

Conceiving, implementing and marketing large digital and immersive exhibitions

La Réunion des Musées Nationaux et du Grand Palais(RMN – Grand Palais), or the French public law corporation that runs 34 national museums (including the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and the Musée Rodin) has launched a new subsidiary called Grand Palais Immersif.

This section specializes in the production, implementation and dissemination of large exhibitions, especially immersive ones.

The agency’s mission consists of three points:

• Conceive and implement digital and immersive exhibitions in synergy with museums, audiovisual and multimedia producers, and digital specialist startups
• launch them in Paris, in a Grand Palais renovated for the occasion and in dedicated spaces
• Market them both in France and abroad

The primary goal of spreading culture in the area and making art accessible, as well as enhancing digital innovation in all its forms: immersive sets, new digital media, virtual reality, augmented and mixed reality.

The aim to become a key player in the digital exhibition market, with a discerning editorial line that succeeds in blending entertainment, storytelling and knowledge transmission.

The idea comes in the wake of the production of several highly successful exhibitions, such as the one on Pompeii organized at the Grand Palais, which brought as many as 200,000 visitors to the halls of the Paris museum in four months (July 1 to October 31, 2020), and will benefit from the expertise of all the actors involved in the operation.

Per Maud Franca, assistant director for digital at Banque des Territoires:

“Immersive technologies will be one of the next revolutions in digital platforms, and they are an area in which the U.S. and Chinese digital giants are already investing heavily.

Innovating in this new field of creativity and cultural dissemination is now a matter of cultural sovereignty. And artistic creation, which is a way of thinking about the world and releasing our imagination and emotions, evolves over time. “

I am equally convinced that no one form of culture replaces another: if anything, forms are added, to cater to all tastes but also to nourish more and more intensely our daily need for wonder, and therefore for art, beauty, and knowledge, which we badly need today in the context of the crisis we are going through.”

Bringing art to life with Augmented Reality

The Norton Museum of Art, Florida, has set a course: through the launch of a new augmented reality app it now allows visitors greater accessibility to its collection in 2021. Since January, the Norton Art+ app has been available in English and Spanish for anyone who wants to explore the artworks housed in the gallery.

The application was commissioned by the museum in 2019, when it chose the design firm Local Projects to develop a software system that could showcase its collection in new ways. The work subsequently undertaken was completed in collaboration with the museum’s curatorial and education departments.

The end result? An application for tablets, provided to visitors directly by the museum: the use of these devices is included in the price of the usual gallery entrance fee.

With the app, visitors can, for example, use the gallery’s tablets to change a sculpture’s facial expressions or try out new and different textures. It also allows visitors to “move” the work they are looking at into a virtual environment, such as a sculpture garden, alongside other AR creations made by visitors.

The AR application allows the gallery to introduce younger visitors to art in new and never before imagined ways. Norton Art+ generates fun experiences while offering new insights into contemporary art, partly because it will help inspire a new generation of art lovers.

Indeed, talking about the future means talking about tomorrow’s visitors and how to engage them in unprecedented museum experiences: Nintendo, in this, has already made its move…

Animal Crossing: New Horizons For a gamification of the museum

In the midst of the Covid pandemic, Nintendo has launched Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a “non-game” that takes each player to escape from the real world. The goal is to immerse oneself in an oasis of peace and tranquility and indulge in relaxing daily routines that serve to transform one’s ‘desert island into the place of one’s dreams.

What is special about Animal Crossing is that there are no levels to complete, no challenges, no bosses, and no princesses to save-the only major purpose is to live freely on the island.

But why should this game appeal to cultural professionals? Because some museums have thought of making objects and works of art from their collections available to turn the players’ virtual home into a personal museum, to be opened to friends as well.

Although the resolution of the exhibits on the Nintendo Switch may not allow players to fully appreciate details and features of the works, this is one way for museums to interact with the more than 13 million players worldwide. But there is more.

On the occasion of International Museum Day, a stamp drive was organized with which various rewards were available. From May 18 to May 31, 2020, players completed a Stamp Hunt within their museum to obtain special rewards.

Could this kind of experience be the next frontier in taking collections to new and unexpected places, meeting new audiences?

We cannot be sure, but on the other hand, the classic statement “Only museums with huge budgets can embark on this kind of innovation” does not hold up: the discussion does not only involve the issue of budget and funds, but rather between those who decide to be one step ahead of those who are slow to move, because equally innovative solutions, but less expensive, are already a reality.