MCN 2024

The CMA has prioritized collection digitization for two decades, refining workflows into a comprehensive roadmap that fully documents asset creation, management, usage, and preservation. This initiative does not just include traditional 2D digitization, and additionally incorporates a major investment in generating 3D assets with advanced photogrammetry techniques and animation. This investment in 3D allows us to be agile, iterative, and collaborative when creating new immersive and interactive experiences.

While we know the process of collection digitization is never truly done, we see immense value in sharing digitized resources on a global scale, and believe that continually incorporating new practices allows us to make remarkable content that makes art matter to all.
Our latest case study involves collaboration with an organization in South Korea where we leveraged our digitization efforts for an immersive exhibition featuring a folding screen depicting the landscape of a remote mountain range in North Korea, exhibited simultaneously at the CMA and at the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Seoul.
Through a partnership with the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation (OKCHF) and collaboration with the experience design firm Technology Research Institute for Culture & Heritage (TRIC) the exhibition on view at the CMA and NPM took shape from the collaborative digitization of objects in our Korean art collection and years of sharing assets between organizations. The exhibitions used CMA’s 3D modeling techniques developed through multiple years of prioritizing 3D as a method of digitization, and TRIC’s animation of the illustrations in the folding screen to create a captivating, first person narrative.

Each institution worked to shape their version of the exhibition to align with their institutional goals. Our result? An immersive exhibition harmonious with the learning goals of our iteration, born from the success of a comprehensive 3D digitization initiative, complete with the voice talents of a famous actor, a cinematic score, and primary source materials from an ancient traveler, all combined for an exhilarating trip into an otherworldly terrain where few can currently set foot.

Kunstsilo is a brand new art museum in Kristiansand, Norway. A former grain silo has been remodeled into a distinctive gem for Nordic modernist art. In the same way the siloes inside the building was cut to create the open Silo Hall, new technology has been explored to create new space for engaging the audience. Inside, several innovations in immersive production and interactive content for families and teens are available. In this session, we will explore three highly innovative solutions in Kunstsilo. We will go through the steps from early phase idea, over the obstacles met during the way and to launch and visitor feedback. The session will use three projects as case studies. All the projects presented involve reaching new audiences through applying different technologies:

1. Pride and prejudice - How the immersive inhouse-production of “Fun fair” by Reidar Aulie became a success for audiences as well as art critiques. When Kunstsilo launched the idea of creating an immersive experience of the painting “Fun fair” by Reidar Aulie, we were very aware of the poor critiques received by immersive productions elsewhere. We have experienced that the art community has prejudice against immersive productions, and wanted to show that it can be done differently and respectfully. A major goal of the project was to create an immersive experience that made the original artwork shine and evoked more interest in the painting itself.  
2. Catch me if you can - Using design thinking and escape room dramaturgy on the world’s largest tablet for teens. Many teenagers visit art museums as part of a school field trip, but few of them come on their own initiative, in their spare time. Through workshops with teens, one of the things they highlighted as interesting was doing fun activities – such as escape rooms- together with their friends (without adult supervision). We took them by their word, and through a series of tests, failures and new prototypes, we have created a detective game for groups from age 10 and up. The players must get through escape room–like tasks and use the exhibited art to solve puzzles to catch a spy in Paris in 1940 before the time runs out. The game combines a huge tablet with physical props and the art exhibited in the room. 
3. The good, the bad and the ugly – Overcoming hurdles in the process of going from audio guide to augmented reality guides. Based on audience feedback – especially from parents who seeked a way to introduce their younger children to art – Kunstsilo wanted to try out a new take on the classic audio guide. Together with LuzidLab we have created augmented reality (AR) guides; one for families and one for individuals exploring Kunstsilo. The AR guide app allows for video and audio content, music, games, 3D effects and artwork animations. However, getting to a production worthy app has been a rocky road, and we will share form our learnings