Have you ever dreamt of stepping inside a painting? Discovering what the space behind might look like, listening to the sounds that might be part of its landscape, watching its colours and textures come to life? Turns out, you can. From spectacular light and sound shows, 3D modelling projects and animated video works to immersive AR and VR experiences, museums and cultural organisations in the 21st century have been using diverse technologies to realise this dream in novel ways.
Museums and cultural institutions today need to remain relevant to their audiences, regardless of their age and background; to create meaningful experiences that connect with their visitors on a personal level. And so, over the past few years, more and more museums have incorporated aspects of technology into their agenda, curation and programming. Whether it is through digitising collections and making them accessible to wider audiences, installing interactive screens and tablets in galleries, or using technological tools to bring alive narratives and histories.
Audiences were able to enjoy a truly unique, immersive audiovisual experience when Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron engulfed the white limestone quarries of Les Baux-de-Provence in France, aka Cathedral of Images or Carrières de Lumières, with large reproductions of Van Gogh’s paintings that were projected on the walls, ceiling and floor; one that transported them right to the heart of the art, enabling a seamless experience without the barriers of frames.
What the experience offered was also a different way of interacting with art, far from the often intimidating encounters at museums and art galleries, which helped in attracting younger audiences. While immersive exhibitions have now become highly popular and several iterations have propped up, Mauger is the one of the first to have pioneered this new way of enjoying art, using technology to bring alive artists’ works.
The use of technology in museums adds a significant dimension to the way we view and engage with artworks, artists, and stories within the museum’s collection. Take for instance, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s chatbot Send Me SFMOMA, which responded with an artwork from the museum’s collection to words and emojis texted by people. In a project like this, technology allows for both non-traditional ways of making connections between the museum’s collections and its audiences, as well as engaging digital natives through a familiar language and practice.
Museums all around the world share one primary concern – how can we discover new and exciting ways of exhibiting and interpreting artworks that may date back to several centuries ago? Technology allows museums to blur such boundaries of time, space and geographies. With the help of advanced technological tools such as Artificial and Virtual Reality, museums can give rein to more imaginative, participative and playful encounters with art, whether in their physical spaces or on digital platforms.
As a new-age institution, the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru has been experimenting with technology to make the museum-going experience an engaging one, especially for young audiences, while also making it interesting and welcoming for those who may not have had an opportunity to interact with art in close quarters earlier. MAP labs, lies at the intersection of science and art and looks at how we can use technology to provide solutions in the art space. In 2021, MAP partnered with Accenture Labs to create the country’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered persona of the late artist MF Husain, through which visitors at the Museum will be able to have real-life conversations with him and learn about his life and art.
While museums throughout the world are moving forward in reinventing themselves, museums in India still suffer from low footfalls and reduced engagement within the community, especially since the pandemic hit in 2020. India is a recognised world leader in Information Technology; yet, this is not currently reflected in many of the nation’s museums or institutions. However, with a greater awareness of what our audiences want and need from a cultural institution, it’s only a matter of time until museums in the country explore the unbridled reach of the digital, and harness the full potential that new-age technology has to offer.
The above article is authored by Kamini Sawhney, Director, Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru.
