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The Implementation of interactive media in Art Museums and its

effects on visitors.

BACHELOR THESIS PROPOSAL

Student: Diana Catalina Martinez, 1510430075

Supervisor: Mattia Rainoldi

Degree Program: Innovation and Management in Tourism 2015

Salzburg, 19.10.2017
1. Literature Review

The subject of this proposal was in part inspired by reading Levent and Leone's 2014 book
"The Multisensory Museum" and its multiple articles on multisensory exhibitions. Multiple other
sources, mostly journal articles on interaction design, as well as a number of books and journal
articles discussing museums and exhibits, visitor experience, and exhibit design and technology
were also considered.

Museums represent more than a setting where objects of cultural, historical or religious
importance are kept for the future, they play a critical role on our society by enriching and
enhancing our culture and our knowledge. This is done thanks to the accessibility of the public to
meaningful exhibitions that are carefully structured in order to fulfill our needs of knowledge,
curiosity and leisure. In addition, museums give the opportunity to the visitors to be in front of
pieces that connect our society across time and space, in this way, museums preserve and share
our cultural heritage through our tangible links to the past.

Moreover, the experience of every individual in museums is completely different, due to the
individual's perception and expectations. In addition, the opportunity of seeing relevant pieces of
our history or renowned pieces of art face-to-face provides a unique interactive experience with
each visitor. Another significant aspect of the importance of museums is their contribution to
cultural tourism and the local economy, because of their work with cultural heritage or their
position as heritage assets themselves (McKercher and Du Cros, 2002). Museums are also major
touristic attractions all over the world and their audience has a strong connection with tourism,
since a great part of the total number of visitors are tourists (Kotler and Kotler, 2008).

Turning now into Art museums, these institutions have also played an important role in
attracting tourists globally. Nevertheless, in past eras these were considered exclusive for certain
audiences. However, museums are now more focused on appealing to a broader audience by
creating a tourist-centric environment that offers a variety of immersive sensory experiences, "Art
museums are therefore re-modeling aesthetic experience into dynamic, entertaining, interactive,
immersive, and participatory events, rather than being exclusively devoted to protecting and
displaying precious objects" (Pennings, 2015). These exhibitions not only appeal to broader
audiences but also encourage the physical interaction with art without the need of any particular
expertise in art in order to engage with it.
Regarding interactivity, and more specifically, multisensory museum exhibitions, in the
majority of the art museums, visitors can only experience the artwork by looking at it and are
strictly forbidden from any physical contact with the art. In addition, museums make sure that the
galleries in which the artwork is exhibited have neutral smells and sounds so the visitors can focus
on the piece they are viewing, due to these factors being able to alter the experience in a
significant way. Nevertheless, all these senses--sight, sound, touch, smell and hearing--are a part
of the museum experience, and have the capacity of enhancing the overall experience
(Ucar,2015). This can be achieved appealing to more senses than just the sight and therefore,
engaging in a stronger and more intimate way with audience, creating stronger bonds and the
possibility of the visitor to return. (Goulet, 2016).

On the other hand, a wide variety of digital tools beyond the traditional audio guides are
already being implemented in art exhibitions, such as, online applications, touch screens, virtual
reconstructions, on-site gaming scenarios and media displaying information on exhibitions (Dal
Falco and Vassos, 2017). By making the setting of the exhibitions more dynamic and participatory
the increase of interest and development of the audience can be observed (Solima, 2012).
Despite the recent popularity of these digital interactive technologies, particularly screen-based,
these are also blamed for the isolation and distraction of visitors from the physical object on
display (Petrelli, 2013). Therefore, an alternative to using technology that might be explored is the
physical, congnitive and emotional interaction with cultural heritage artefacts through the use of
senses.(Petrelli et al., 2014; Zancanaro et al., 2015)

As previously stated, the limitations of art museums regarding the appreciation of artwork and
the lack of interactivity in many of them creates a perception on visitors of it not being as
entertaining and educational as it could be. Therefore, the museums have placed their efforts in
the previously mentioned implementation of applications for smartphones and mobile devices.
These applications open the opportunity of communication between the visitor and the museum,
but a further step that can be taken is the integration of on-site interactions that can lead to an
ongoing narrative experience and a modern storytelling methodology that enhances the form of
dialogue between visitors and the museum (Dal Falco and Vassos, 2017). In addition, while the
collections of art are without a doubt the main attraction of the museum, nowadays, these
institutions cannot rely only on the display of paintings, sculptures and such. Therefore, the
implementation of immersive and interactive exhibits are often crucial in explaining the
significance of these pieces(Kotler and Kotler, 2004). Furthermore, these tools not only suplement
the traditional content of exhibitions but also promote unique learning experiences as a prime
focus of the museum or just support for the display.(Simon, 2010).

Finally, museums must consider not only the design of the experience at the exhibitions only,
but also every stage of the visit. As it is explained by Graham Black's 2005 book, The engaging
Museum: Developing Museums for Visitor Involvement. Here, the pressure on museums to
change the display of exhibitions and the way collections are presented in order to encourage the
audience to engage with the museum is discussed.

2. Research Aim and Questions:

The research aim of this thesis is to identify the positive effects that interactive exhibitions,
more specifically, multisensory exhibitions have on the overall experience of visitors of art
museums, due to the museums growing interest in creating new forms of engagement and
participation for visitors. Furthermore, the effects these implementations might have on the
increment of the audience and the potential development of an alternative for the already existing
mobile-based technologies that are already implemented in numerous museums.

 Research question: In what ways can multisensory exhibitions positively affect the user's
experience in art museums?
o How can the experience of art museums visitors be enriched though the effective
interaction between the user and the exhibit?
o Can multisensory displays enable the opportunity of visitors to engage and learn
from art exhibitions?
o Do visitors prefer traditional art exhibitions or interactive environments within the
museums?

3. Methodology

Given the previous questions, a mixed method evaluation approach combining questionnaires
and structured interviews might the appropriate way to conduct this research. In order to not only
analyze purely quantitative results but also consider further information that might be left out if
only this method is used. The particular exhibition or art museum where the research will take
place is yet to be decided, since, personally I still consider I have to decide on which case or art
museum to focus specifically, due to potential language barriers or other circumstances as the
timing of exhibitions, etc. Regarding the scoop size of interviewees will depend on the further
development of the questionnaire and interviews.
4. Table of content
Abstract

Acknowledgment

Table of content:

1. INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.1. Aims and objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.2. Theoretical approaches and sources. . . . . . . . . . 5

2. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1. What is a museum? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2. What is multisensory interactivity . . . . . . . . . . . .

3. ART MUSEUMS AND INTERACTIVITY. . . . . . . . . .

3.1. Art museums in tourism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.2. Multisensory exhibitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.3. Sustainable development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4. CASE STUDIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.1. ****************. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.2. ****************. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5. CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

APPENDIX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Black Graham (2005) The Engaging Museum: Developing Museums for Visitor
Involvement. New York, USA: Routledge.
2. Federica Dal Falco & Stavros Vassos (2017) Museum Experience Design: A Modern
Storytelling Methodology, The Design Journal.
3. Goulet Andrea (2016) Multisensory exhibitions: bond with your audiences by appealing
to their senses. Retrieved from:http://www.wearemuseums.com/multisensory-
exhibitions-bond-with-your-audiences-by-appealing-to-their-senses/
4. Kotler, Neil and Philip Kotler(2004)“Can Museums Be All Things to All People? Missions,
Goals, and Marketing’s Role,” in Reinventing the Museum: Historical and Contemporary
Perspectives on the Paradigm Shift, ed. Gail Anderson (Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2004).
5. Kotler, Neil and Philip Kotler (2008). Museum Strategy and Marketing. Designing
Missions. Building Audiences. Generating Revenue and Resources.
6. Levent Nina, Pascual-Leone Alvaro (2014) The Multisensory Museum, Cross-
Disciplinary Perspective on Touch, Sound, Smell, Memory and Space.Plymouth, United
Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield.
7. McKercher, Bob and Hilary du Cros (2002) Cultural Tourism: The Partnership Between
Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management. London & New York.
8. Pennings Mark (2015) Athens Journal of Tourism, Art Museums and the Global Tourist:
Experience Centers in Experiencescapes.
9. Petrelli Daniela (2013) MeSch: Material EncounterS with digital Cultural Heritage Project
Factsheet. Retrieved from:http://www.mesch-project.eu/about/
10. Solima (2012). The listening museum. New communication strategies for public
museums. Rome: Rubettino
11. Simon Nina (2010) The Participatory Museum, Santa Cruz: Museum 2.0.
12. Ucar Ezgi (2015), Multisensory MET: Touch, Smell and Hear Art, retrieved from:
https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/digital-underground/2015/multisensory-met

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