Presented at SXSW Interactive 2014. As deeply enmeshed as technology has become in our lives, there is one place where we still squint to read small labels, strain to hear static-filled audio guides, and wrestle with disorienting paper maps: the art museum. Well, we are on the cusp of a new experience as interactive designers begin to roll up their sleeves and re-envision how we experience art in the digital age. From the innovative Gallery One at the Cleveland Museum of Art to the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania, experience designers and curators are experimenting with how to enrich the typical journey through a museum. By exploiting iBeacons, location awareness, mobile, touch screens and Wii environments, we are on the verge of redefining how we look at and interact with art. We'll look at emerging best practices at museums and galleries all over the globe, discuss what works and what doesn’t, and delve into the larger question of technology’s role in experiencing art.

1. Tech
+Art
#futureart
Digital Innovation
in the Art World
Leslie Wolke
lesliewolke.com

2. Hello Slidesharers: Since this presentation is mostly images,
I’ve embedded some captions like these to help tell the story…"
By trade, I’m a wayfinding technologist, meaning I make tools to help
people find their way in complex environments. I work with software
developers, UX designers, and architects, but I didn’t start out in any
of these fields."
"
I’m an Art History major. And if you have any interest at all in art history,
you might have heard how President Obama dis’d the entire field in a
speech about the value of a technical education…"

3. but I promise you,
folks can make a
lot more in skilled
manufacturing or the
trades than with an
art history degree.
Nothing wrong with art history—I
love art history so I don’t want to
get a bunch of emails from everybody.

4. I wrote my senior thesis about art museums and how people navigate and
experience these spaces. In the 25 years since I graduated, our
experience of the art museum hasn’t changed much at all…"
In fact, that’s the purpose of this talk. I am issuing a challenge for all of us
to REINVENT the art museum experience, with the help of technology."

7. Grand Staircase
Rubloff
Auditorium
Chicago
Stock Exchange
Trading Room
Modern
Shop
Membership
Desk
Membership
Desk
Ryerson and
Burnham Libraries
Print
Study Room
(by appointment)
Fullerton
Hall
Griffin
Court
172169
168
167
166
163
162
164
165
171
173
174170
175
176
177
188
186
184
182
1
CBA
Educator
Resource
Center
Family
Room
StudioStudioStudio
2345
151
153154
179
178
134
136
137
108
109
133106
107 132
127B
127A
124B
124A
125
126
105104
103
102 131
130
101A101
135
American Art
before 1900
161–179
Greek, Roman, and
Byzantine Art
150–154
Special Exhibitions
182–184
Ryan Education Center
Photography
188
Film, Video, and
New Media
186
Indian, Southeast Asian,
and Himalayan Art
140–143
American Decorative
Arts 1920–1970
162Chinese, Japanese,
and Korean Art
101–109, 130–135
African Art
137
Indian Art of
the Americas
136
Prints and
Drawings
124–127
161
Sculpture
Court
STUDENT GROUP
ENTRANCE
MICHIGAN AVENUE
ENTRANCE
MODERN WING
ENTRANCE
MODERN WING
100
McKinlock Court
144
Chagall’s
America Windows
Museum
Shop
Alsdorf Galleries
142141140 143 152
150
Classrooms
NORTH GARDEN
1Entrance level
The Art Institute is made up
of many different buildings.
All buildings are connected
on the first level only.
COLUMBUSDRIVE
LAKEMICHIGAN
MICHIGANAVENUE
GRANT PARK
JACKSON STREET
MILLENNIUM PARK
MONROE STREET
SOUTH GARDEN
PRITZKER GARDEN
Information
Audio Guides
Checkroom
Elevator
Escalator
Gift Shop
Tickets
Women’s Restroom
Men’s Restroom
Family Restroom
Wheelchair Ramp
In fact, our tools haven’t progressed at all—paper maps, antique
audio guides and wall captions to tiny to read."

8. But in those same 25 years (since the birth of the web, in fact), the
way we MAKE things has undergone a radical transformation."
If we look at the technology that kids are using today—a 12-year old can
make a feature film using cameras and equipment of the caliber that only
a small cadre of technicians in Hollywood had access to 25 years ago."
"
3D printing—a technology that only the largest manufacturers had access
to 25 years ago—is now in the hands of children, who now can produce
anything they dream, stretching their understanding of the physical world."

9. HOW WE MAKE THINGS

10. HOW WE SEE THINGS
How we MAKE things is indeed, completely
new, but, how we SEE things has not evolved."

11. In fact, it’s not even as interesting as the days when curators would plaster each wall
with paintings abutting paintings—daring viewers to make sense of the resulting mosaic."

12. Now we face the tyranny of the white box, and strain for meaning."

13. WHAT’S MISSING?
Two important attributes are missing in these experiences."

14. WHAT’S MISSING?
PLAY
Play: we learn by playing. The iPhone doesn’t come with a user’s manual—you play with
it to discover how it works. "

15. WHAT’S MISSING?
PLAY
CONTEXTContext: when we know something about an object, it becomes more interesting.
Without context, we are lost and disinterested."

16. I spent some time researching how technology is being employed in art museums and
found one great example: Gallery One at the Cleveland Museum of Art."

17. Gallagher & Associates (gallagherdesign.com) and Local Projects
(localprojects.net) created these interactive experiences. "
"
“Strike a Pose” uses a Wii Connect and a touch screen to dare visitors to
match the pose of an artifact from the museum’s collection. "
"
“Make a Face” captures the visitor’s face and displays a similar one from
the collection."
"
Both infuse some silliness into the stodgy museum-going experience. With
inhibitions lowered through PLAY, visitors connect viscerally to the art."
http://vimeo.com/60866005"

18. This 80-foot interactive collections wall displays art in CONTEXT. The museum’s
contents are arrayed before you in high resolution, with associated meta data. Sort
and browse by any attribute and customize a tour to see your favorites."

19. http://vimeo.com/57333692"

21. The Collections Wall reminds me of David Hockney’s Great Wall. The painter plastered
his studio walls with European paintings in chronologic order to discover that photo-
realism appeared in the Netherlands in an instant—and hypothesized that Dutch
painters like Vermeer may have employed lenses and optics to make their paintings so
realistic. Professionals and amateurs both learn when work is placed in CONTEXT."

22. (By the way, I believe Hockney’s hypothesis has just been proven by the work of Tim
Jenison—see the wonderful documentary “Tim’s Vermeer”)"

23. So, what technologies would we use if we were to take on the challenge
of reinventing the art museum?"

24. Perhaps your first thought is Google Glass—a great
platform for providing context for what you see."

25. And Google Art Project (aka “crack
for art historians”) puts museums in
context of their collections and
artifacts in context with their
surroundings."

26. Project Tango, iBeacons, RFID, NFC
—all location-aware technologies
connect visitors to their environment."

27. By the way, President Obama did
apologize in a hand-written note."

28. THE CHALLENGE
REINVENT THE
ART MUSEUM:
A PLAYFUL +
CAPTIVATING
EXPERIENCE FOR ALL

29. Tech
+Art
#futureart
Digital Innovation
in the Art World
Leslie Wolke
lesliewolke.com