Immersive, interactive experiences are in high demand, and arguably nowhere is this more true than in museums and the arts. These experiences pull the audience into a new world via the use of a combination of technologies. This provides a much more engaging experience than a traditional exhibit as the audience is placed at the heart of the story not kept behind a glass screen just reading a plaque.
Museums, galleries and arts venues have always aimed to engage with their exhibitions and displays, but the demand on these venues to create more and more immersive and interactive experiences continues to grow. Moreover, the definition of precisely what constitutes “engaging” is constantly shifting, to the point where cultural venues are in a constant race to be at the cutting edge.
As a museum, it’s quite understandable to admire immersive, interactive experiences for the way in which they engage and entertain, but it’s also not unusual to approach them with a fair amount of scepticism. Keep reading to find out how immersion can help to improve the success of your exhibits and some inspiration for designing your own.
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Engaging the senses
The most pressing question you’ll probably have when it comes to adding interactive experiences to your business is “are they actually any good? It’s a difficult one to answer objectively, as everybody has different tastes and requirements. There is one particular criteria that you can use to gauge the effectiveness of an interactive experience, on how many levels does it engage the user? The most vital aspect of creating immersive, interactive experiences is that – in order to be truly effective – they have to engage on a multi-sensory level.
Museums and galleries, two of the main adopters of immersive experiences, find engagement highly important. These institutions are in many ways learning environments where the goal is to educate their guests and for that to happen they need to make sure their visitors are engaged. It has been found that people are able to learn more by participating in hands-on learning rather than just reading or listening to explanations. As well as this, immersive learning can improve knowledge retention by as much as 90%.
Below is an example of a cultural venue utilising technology to improve the learning experience by adding elements of interactivity into their exhibits. With the help of LamasaTech, The National Centre for the Written Word was able to create an interactive & immersive learning experience.
Traditional exhibits that are accompanied by a plaque with a written message provide a passive learning experience with no interaction available and therefore a lack of engagement. In order to provide knowledge in the most effective way many museums and galleries introduced more interactive experiences. Touch displays and video walls with audio systems are examples of the technology that can be introduced to allow for a more immersive experience. For example, an exhibit about a Viking boat could show the process it took to build. A video wall could show a re-creation video of what it took to put the boat together while interactive screens could let visitors select certain parts of the boat to learn about its importance. This combination would help to transport your audience to that world and feel closer to the exhibit helping them to become immersed in that time period. This experience is much more memorable than a plaque next to an exhibit behind a glass screen.
Sustainability
When it comes to considering an immersive, interactive experience, an important question you’ll have will be whether it is sustainable. Depending on the technology and the amount you require for your experience the initial cost could be quite large. Interactive display walls, audio systems, VR units and touch tables, as seen below, will all up the price you need to pay to provide an engaging experience for your visitors.
VR and AR technology also comes with the need for greater training for your staff, which could add further cost to the project. This training will be necessary as your staff will need to be able to show visitors how they work so they can actually interact with the experience.
In terms of prices, devices and software can vary depending on your bespoke needs, however, an interactive, 360-degree, 3D video can cost upwards of $10,000 on its own.
Another concern you might have is how long your experience will remain at the forefront of available technology. These experiences rely on new and emerging technology that people have not had the chance to interact with before. Who’s to say there won’t be a huge technological shift in a couple of years, which could leave your experience outdated? This is the risk involved, however, as long as your immersive experience is compelling and does engage your audience, you’ll continue to attract visitors.
Some inspiration
To help inspire you to create your own immersive, interactive experience, we’ve put together a list of some of our favourite and most engaging examples. Here are some of our favourites from around the world and a few of our projects.
James Turrel
American artist James Turrel is fascinated by light and space and employs the creative use of light to create immersive experiences that play with the viewer’s perception. Turrel’s Shallow Space Constructions (pictured top-right) uses controlled lighting to challenge the viewer’s depth perception.
While not strictly interactive, Turrel’s work embodies the immersive experience expertly.
Images: James Turell
Storyworld – Immersive storytelling room
We were approached by The National Centre for the Written Word to create a digital storytelling experience for their young visitors.
We created an immersive, engaging storytelling room: Storyworld.
Combining projection and audio technology with the work of real-life storytellers, children can be transported into the stories they’re being told.
You can read more about our work with The National Centre for the Written Word in our case study.
National Museum of Singapore – Story of the forest
This museum is packed with a great deal of visually impressive exhibits but the top of the list is the Story of the forest. This experience transforms 69 historical drawings into three-dimensional animations. This artwork touches on the history of the country, displaying a contrast between the past and present. All of this is achieved through a virtual and visual landscape.
Check out the National Museum of Singapore – Story of the forest for yourself.
Woodhorn Museum – Winding House No2
It’s important, when creating historical immersive, interactive experiences, that you respect the history of the subject matter. We did exactly that while creating an immersive exhibition for Woodhorn Museum’s Winding House No2 exhibition.
Using a combination of digital projection technology and high-quality audio, we created an immersive, historically-accurate experience that took visitors through the history of Woodhorn museum’s Winding House No2.
You can read more about our work with Woodhorn Museum in our case study.
At LamasaTech we love the technology that’s making digital experiences more immersive and interactive, and we want to bring them to you.
If you’re looking for a great way to engage, inspire and entertain with digital technology, Get in touch with a member of our expert team for a free consultation.
