Page 40 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

40
the other side) in 2015 (Facultat de Belles Arts de Sant Carles, Valencia) and in 2017 (Museo ABC, Madrid), we have modified our working system and approach to its conceptualisation. Our expe- rience and analysis of other projects in our field of study allows us to affirm that content creation and dissemination is currently shifting towards
a new museum model that uses different means or channels apart from the exhibition space itself. This new trend, which is called transmedia in other fields, seeks among other things to interact with visitors to make their experience memorable. The question we are attempting to answer is how does exhibition design need to evolve to make the term transmedia part of new museum practices?
Interactive means designing resources which visitors can find physically or using their mobile devices as they walk around the room and which require their response.
Interactive means designing resources which visitors can find physically or using their mobile devices as they walk around the room and which require their response in order to establish a dialogue and learning dynamics, whereas the term transmedia is more global as it entails using different communication channels, formats and media to broaden the scope of an exhibition’s content. It thus enhances the overall experience and educational aspect, both in the museum galleries and in their outreach. This evolution, which this article sets out to examine, is based on an analysis and data gleaned a posteriori
from the two sample exhibitions designed and developed by the Unit Experimental team and from a long list of reference points that will be discussed in the following section.
In the first exhibition, Pensar con las manos. Pep Carrió & Isidro Ferrer (2013), Unit Experimental developed a pioneering interactive project that examined the work of these two artists and illustrators in depth through a novel concept of interactivity with mobile devices and augmented reality. Our goal was to bring the working
processes of these two artists to the general public, but also to specialised visitors.
Fig. 1. Exhibition Pensar con las manos, Pep Carrió & Isidro Ferrer (2013), carried out by Unit Experimental
Having analysed the work of both artists, we found a connection in the sketchbooks the two constantly use to jot down ideas, both in writing and – chiefly – in drawing, to later use in their works, be they commissions or own produc- tions. The exhibition thus consisted of finished original artworks and a few of the sketches that gave rise to them. The large number of images chosen forced us to devise a system for showing visitors all this material without needing it to be physically located in the room. This is how the application Los Cuadernos (Sketchbooks, 2013) arose. Visitors were invited to use it on their tab- lets and smartphones which, through cameras, provided access to more than seventy interactive elements throughout the walkthrough, classified into six different types.
The application enabled visitors to explore the sketchbooks without having to touch them, thereby helping preserve the original material and also allowing various spectators to view a small, private notebook at the same time with- out having to queue and at their own pace. Along with the videos in which Pep and Isidro reflect on their work, this tool, which is so useful for the above reasons, is key to understanding their creative processes. The visit to the exhibi- tion was further enhanced by links to various
DIGITAL DESIGN OF CULTURAL CONTENT: TOWARDS A TRANSMEDIA EXHIBITION MODEL · UNIT
Digital Trends in Culture