Digitally enriched museum experiences – what technology can do

ABSTRACT

The recent pandemic crisis, coupled with the rapid development of new technologies, has shown what new opportunities exist for designing enriched museum experiences. In this article, we collected the experience of six Dutch design agencies that are known for their portfolio in applying new technologies to museum experiences, also internationally. We start by clarifying the concept of museum experience design. Then, we discuss the role technology can play in designing museum experiences. We first review the types of technology that were mostly used in museums in the pre-Covid period and clarify the purpose of their use. Subsequently, we elaborate on the trends that design agencies see as the most important developments emerging post-pandemic and reveal the dreams they have for future applications of technology in museum experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Museum experience design
• technology
• storytelling
• current practice
• future trends

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our interviewees for their time and for sharing their knowledge, expertise and insights with us. They were (in alphabetical order): Gijs Leijdekkers (Tinker Imagineers), Steven Schaeken (NorthernLight), Bart van den Berg (Kiss the Frog), Jeroen van Erp (Fabrique), Niels van Hamersveld (Door/IN10), Hayo Wagenaar (Ijsfontein).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 ‘A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing’. 24 August 2022, ICOM General Conference, Prague.

2 Reorganise, Reuse, Rethink and Relaunch – Lessons from Philbrook – MuseumNext.

3 The Uffizi Gallery Leads the Way with TikTok Tactics – MuseumNext.

4 https://www.museumnext.com/article/tate-britain-partners-with-facebook-on-the-virtual-wing/

5 Museums should embrace Instagram rather than rejecting it. Here’s why – MuseumNext.

6 How Can Museums Harness the Power of WeChat? – MuseumNext.

7 The Met take their collection onto Animal Crossing – MuseumNext.

8 Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Streaming Animal Crossing – MuseumNext.

9 https://www.museumnext.com/article/museum-heads-to-wonderland-with-virtual-reality-event/

10 Meaningful museum interpretations using virtual reality – MuseumNext.

11 https://www.museumnext.com/article/7-ways-vr-is-changing-the-museum-landscape/

12 https://www.museumnext.com/article/bringing-17th-century-documents-from-rembrandts-day-to-life-using-augmented-reality/

13 Augmented Reality brings Korean Heritage Site Back to Life – MuseumNext.

14 How Are Museums Using Chatbots? – MuseumNext.

15 What Digital Twin Technology Means for Museums – MuseumNext.

16 https://www.teamlab.art/.

17 Micrio – Ultra Resolution Storytelling.

18 https://www.panorama-mesdag.nl/#/micrio/explore.

19 https://www.in10.nl/en/work/nederlands-fotomuseum.

20 https://www.in10.nl/en/work/kinderdijk.

21 https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio.

22 Such as immersive projection rooms aka Motionexperience.nl, a want-to-be Teamlab rip-off, are also becoming more and more popular (Tinker Imagineers).

23 https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/29-may-1997/museums-may-suffer-bout-of-disneyfication/

24 Tirpitz museum denmark – Tinker Imagineers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Licia Calvi

Licia Calvi is currently leading the research group on Digital Transformation in Cultural Tourism at the Breda University of Applied Sciences (NL). She was educated as a philosopher and trained as an interaction designer, and has been working for many years now as experience designer, especially in the cultural and creative sector. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Experience Research Society. She has been involved in various consultancy projects related to the use of storytelling for heritage. Next to her interest in using storytelling as a design tool for experiences, she is also interested in understanding the use of technology, in particular extended realities, for the design of sustainable and authentic experiences related to the local culture with the aim of enabling the inclusive, social, and sustainable growth of local communities and of reinvigorating the idea of enhanced heritage sites and public spaces.

Arnold P.O.S. Vermeeren

Arnold P. O. S. Vermeeren is Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering and Director of the Faculty’s MuseumFutures Lab. He was educated as an Industrial Designer and has been involved in various EU-funded projects on User Experience (UX) as well as in a large variety of museum experience-related projects. He was editor of the book Museum Experience Design published by Springer Cultural Computing in 2018. In the MuseumFutures lab his focus is on studying how transformational experiences can be designed around heritage to help people better understand and relate to societal issues (such as cultural diversity, sustainability, smart cities, etc.) and feel empowered to have a positive impact on them, as well as on how digitally-based representation technologies can enrich and strengthen the impact of such experiences.