Interactive Museum Exhibits 101

12th August 2024

The role of a museum is to make historic, cultural and artistic artefacts accessible to the general public, but just because the objects themselves might be from the past, that doesn’t mean the exhibits themselves have to be.

Modern heritage institutions are making use of the latest technology to create interactive museum exhibits that engage and excite a new generation of museum goers, but what technology is available? And how is this tech being used in some of the world’s most famous museums?

Examples of interactive exhibit technology

Arts and heritage institutions are finding exciting ways to create interactive exhibits, and to do this they’re making use of innovative technology.

Touchscreen displays

Touchscreen displays aren’t a particularly new innovation, but they’re still one of the most effective ways to engage visitors and present large amounts of information, images or maps in a  small space.

You can use them to empower visitors to create a more personalised experience, allowing them to learn more about specific aspects of exhbits, or simply use them for finding their way around larger museums.

Augmented reality (AR) exhibits

Augmented reality (AR) exhibits in museums use digital content, such as text, images or animations, to enhance a visitor’s physical environment. This is often achieved via a mobile app, but virtual reality headsets can also be used for AR experiences.

Some examples of how this could be used include text information about a specific artefact appearing on a smartphone screen, or an animated avatar appearing next to an exhibit to provide further context which is only visible to anyone wearing a VR headset or who is pointing a smartphone at a specific marker, like a QR code.

READ MORE: How the use of Augmented Reality in Museums is bringing collections to life

Virtual reality (VR) experiences

Virtual reality has been around in one form or another for decades, but it’s only been in the last few years that the technology has reached a high enough level to attract mainstream appeal.

In 2021, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) launched Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser, a VR exhibition that allowed visitors to take part in a game of hedgehog croquet, search for the White Rabbit’s missing glove and solve riddles.

The cost of implementing VR tech in museums at scale is still high, but more and more institutions will make use of the innovation to engage and captivate their visitors in new and exciting ways.

Interactive display cases

Display cases are used by arts and heritage institutions all over the world to safely and securely present their artefacts, but the downside is that they prevent the visitor from interacting with the exhibit.

Interactive display cases make this problem a thing of the past, offering your museum’s guests the chance to interact with and inspect objects. Artifacts, monitors displaying information and lighting can all be rotated, scrolled through and adapted easily, significantly enhancing the experience of viewing historical objects.

Projection mapping

Interactive projections, achieved through a technique called projection mapping, transforms museum content by projecting dynamic images and videos onto exhibits and artifacts, creating immersive and engaging experiences for your visitors.

Projection mapping can be used to either enhance static exhibits, for example creating a sense of movement by projecting images or videos onto artifacts, or by creating fully immersive environments. In this case, images and video can be mapped onto walls and ceilings or an exhibition space.

Holographic displays

Similar to projection mapping, holographic displays can be used to create engaging and immersive experiences, bringing exhibits to life in a way that simple video, images or other static content can’t.

Holograms can be used to show how ancient tools or weapons would’ve been used, to show how long-extinct creatures moved and behaved, or to demonstrate the mechanisms of antiquated machinery.

Examples and success stories

Some of the world’s most renowned arts and heritage institutions are already using this technology to create unforgettable experiences for their visitors.

ArtScience Museum Singapore

The Future World exhibition at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore makes use of projection mapping on a huge scale, projecting large natural environments onto floors, walls and ceilings that respond to the movements of visitors.

Camp Nou, Barcelona

The museum of Barcelona FC at the Camp Nou uses touchscreen display technology to great effect, allowing guests to recount iconic goals, great games and detailed history about the club and the players.

The Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore

The Museum of Art and Photography in Bangalore, India, has used AI and holographic technology to create a digital avatar of painter M. F. Husain (who died in 2011).

The three-dimensional avatar of Husain uses facial recognition, speech synthesis and language processing to respond to questions in real time and discuss topics related to his life and works.

How Digital Asset Management supports interactive exhibits

Interactive museum exhibits have the potential to transform the visitor experience in your museum, art gallery or heritage institution, but this needs digital content to bring it to life—and lots of it.

Whether it’s projection mapping, augmented or virtual reality exhibits, interactive touch screens or interactive display cases, you’ll need to store these high resolution image, video and audio files in a place they can be easily accessed, shared and managed, and basic file storage solutions simply aren’t up to the task for a modern and forward-thinking institution.

Digital Asset Management systems like ResourceSpace are designed to streamline the processes that can make these interactive museum displays possible, while they also offer a huge variety of other benefits to museums and galleries beyond powering advanced museum display technology.

READ MORE: ResourceSpace + The History of Science Museum

To find out more about how ResourceSpace can help you to engage visitors with technology feel free to send us a message and our experienced museum DAM experts will be happy to help. Alternatively, you can see ResourceSpace in action during a free, 30-minute tour of the software.

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