Augmented Museum

UCLA IDEAS Technology Studio Spring 2016

Research Lead: Guvenc Ozel 

Instructors: Guvenc Ozel, Benjamin Ennemoser

Technologies: XR, computational design, gaming engines, transforming architectures

Students: Dhwani Gogri, Hui Li, Jeremy Nguyen, Karan Pashine, Roxana Perez-Antonio, Yi Qian, Qian Qian Song, Yevhenia Terzi, Lingjie Wu, Yibing Wu, Shiyi Xin, Hengzhi Ye, Ruodi Yufang, Lu Zhang, Peitong Zhang, Yu Zhang, Ning Zhu

Current forms of architecture programmed to exhibit, archive and document objects are being challenged by the digital accessibility of image and data based cybernetic presentations of the Internet. In many contexts, contemporary museums not only struggle to archive and store many of their physical collections, but also often fail to present compelling narratives in regards to the depth of their collections. These conditions yield to passive public receptions in regards to the process of curation, where the curators rely on the cultural relevance of punchy titles and celebrity artists rather than curatorial coherence of exhibits. Often museum interiors are viewed as empty vessels without any direct dialogue and relationship with the contents of their interiors. As a result, many of the items in the collections remain inaccessible and detached, and the curatorial foci of institutions cease to effectively engage the public. Contemporary digital technologies such as AR/VR can effectively engage these vast collections of objects and reveal relevant connections between items of different collections, allowing the curator to design processes of access rather than set exhibits with particular timelines. This new scenario would allow the visitors to filter and access certain parts of collections independently, allowing the museum building to act as an interface to access physical and digital works and representations of art. In this context, the visitors would in fact create curatorial narratives collaboratively with the museum-machine.