MCN 2024

In colonial Manhattan, fiery tensions bubbled beneath the veneer of society. Kofi’s Fire: A Spark of Resistance, an interactive graphic novel, documents the 1741 uprising of New York City, in which enslaved people and indentured servants set fire to businesses throughout Manhattan. We follow Kofi, an enslaved man put to trial, convicted, and executed for arson in our online graphic novel, created in partnership with Historic Hudson Valley Society, and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created by a Black-led team, Kofi’s Fire interprets biased archives, giving faces and personalities to underrepresented voices in a courtroom drama created for middle- and high-school audiences. In illuminating this hidden narrative, we found opportunities to contextualize the story of injustice and juxtapose 1741 Manhattan and present day, illustrating the ongoing consequences of history.

The session will focus primarily on the collaborative and creative aspects of developing a web-based interactive/digital-first exhibit aimed at middle- and high-school students and teachers. We will provide an overview of the intake of archival materials, the creative breakdown of documents into a narrative, building upon that story with illustration and dialogue, and how the final product incorporates opportunities for further learning.

Attendees will learn how charrettes and user testing with Africana scholars, K-12 educators, and students created a compassionate, engaging “modern-day textbook.” We’ll discuss how museum professionals, artists, and educators collaborated to find beauty and contemporary relevance within this difficult history, while crafting a digital-first experience that meshes a historical visit to Philipsburg Manor (operated by Historic Hudson Valley) with an in-class lesson.

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.

In April Biden signed a potential TikTok ban into law. ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok has until January 19, 2025 to sell their app or risk its removal from app stores in the US. In preparation for TikTok’s potential, eminent demise, this 15 minute fast-paced session will provide a quick overview of alternative use cases for short form video content in a post-TikTok media landscape. This presentation will aim to answer questions like: How can museums leverage short form video content for engagement on other social media platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels? How do audiences on these alternate platforms differ from the TikTok audience? Where will the TikTok audience go? Through experience and analytics, the co-presenters will share how the National Constitution Center is prepping for a potential, post-TikTok future.

The New Mexico State Land Office leases and manages New Mexico state trust lands. Much of that land has been leased for extractive practices such as oil and gas drilling. During her tenure, Commissioner Stephanie Garcia-Richards works closely with Indigenous communities to return stolen land to displaced tribes. In 2022, just over 2,000 acres were returned to the Fort Sill Apache Tribe. The tribe had been separated from their ancestral land since the US Government captured their forebears and put them in military-run internment camps in Oklahoma. The exchange was completed last fall and the land is now under the management of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe.

Every fall semester, NMHU’s Media Arts Seminar class collaborates with a cultural or community-based organization to develop an exhibit. In the fall of 2023, Professor Lauren Addario’s students Destiny Zukevich, Emily Clark, and Marlene Bad Warrior, worked with Ethan Ortega, Assistant Commissioner of Cultural Resources, and archeologists Carlyn Stewart, Anne Curry, and Adesbah Foguth at the New Mexico State Land Office (NMSLO). The resulting exhibit highlights the recent accomplishments of the New Mexico State Land Office’s Land Back initiatives.

The exhibition includes a video with perspectives from Indigenous youth talking about what land back means to them, a screen-based mapping component that draws attention to how tribal lands in the southwest are impacted by climate change, two graphic panels, and bookmarks that feature endangered animals and insects in southern New Mexico.

New Mexico Highlands University’s Media Arts & Technology Department has partnered with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs since 2005. The program cultivates a homegrown pool of multimedia specialists working with cultural content and committed to serving their communities.

Los Luceros Historic Site sits on 300-acres of New Mexico land with apple orchards, the Rio Grande, historic buildings, and a rich queer history including Maria Chabot and Georgia O’Keeffe. This historic site opened in 2019, right before every museum and historic site in New Mexico closed due to the pandemic. In January of 2023 the Program for Interactivity and Cultural Technology (PICT) in Media Arts & Technology developed multiple installations for Los Luceros as they planned a grand re-opening.

A 3D-Interactive 60”x44” CNC engraved table was created from trees that burned during the devastating northern New Mexico fires of 2022. The table has 11 buttons that each feature something significant about the location on site they are representing. Different historic structures, animals, and iconography were also created using Blender 3D- an open-source application. Buttons and buildings were 3D-printed in Becca Sharp’s home studio. Using open source hardware (the Arduino and the Museduino- developed in-house by Rianne Trujillo and Miriam Langer) to connect the buttons and LEDs, which in turn illuminate historic buildings, the acequia madre (the mother irrigation canal), and key features of this incredible site on the banks of the Rio Grande.

What makes this table so special is the use of technology to enhance the historic site without requiring the visitor to use screen-based technology. Visitors can feel the corn-based plastic that houses the buttons and the wood that was given a second life through this project. The table also guides visitors as a way-finding tool and creates an exciting map for both adults and children to learn about all that the site has to offer.

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

Often tactile expression is bound by the materials that are available to the person interested in expressing themselves. There is nearly always a limit to the available space, size, colors, or dialogue between the artist and the medium they are working with. Therefore, one’s imagination is tied to the scope of the physical variables that they must work within, informing their art and growth. Within the new realm of digital art-making materials and expressions, there can be a greater amplification of size, space, and resources made available to the aspiring artist, or more importantly, the non-artist who has yet to find the fire of imagination inside of them. These digital canvases can be multifaceted, mutable, alive, and lend themselves more wholly to the fostering of unbound imagination, inspiring all people to express themselves as creative humans. The Dream Studio digital painting installation at the Denver Art Museum is an example of limitless expression, allowing artists and non-artists alike to find self-expression in scale and format in which they have possibly never experienced. Three different 3D projection mapped stations allow the user to paint on an iPad, unleashing the imagination to challenge itself on new canvases, on a scale that most people do not get to experience. The digital format allows itself for varied non-traditional painting techniques and opportunities that offer new horizons for individualized expression. Not only is this type of live digital painting ground-breaking, but the ease of use is elegant, accessible, and approachable for all museum visitors. Designing the installation to be accessible reinforces the values of our institution of inclusivity and creativity. This example is merely a curated taste of the limitless nature of digital painting and the possibilities therein.

This session will dive into the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum (AEHM)–a first-of-its-kind, tech-focused exhibit where visitors explore Amelia’s remarkable story while immersing themselves in the Art Deco era and early years of flight.

AEHM is not only innovative and inspiring but also highly educational and emphasizes STEM disciplines. The museum’s content was designed to engage students of all ages, particularly those in surrounding rural communities. Two teacher resource documents are available that exceed the National Curriculum, Kansas Curriculum, and Missouri Standards of Learning.

The experience begins with a lifelike portrayal of Amelia, who greets visitors and offers a sneak peek into her life. The digital display warranted 1,000+ hours of research, AI technology and computation to create. Archival photos and videos paired with human talent were used to ensure this portrayal of Amelia was as authentic as possible.

Inside the gallery, audio interactives, digital kiosks and imagery tell the story of Amelia’s youth. Visitors can listen to accounts of her relatives using an antique telephone and get a lesson in physics by cranking the cars of a model roller coaster inspired by Amelia’s homemade version.

“Careers”–an augmented reality (AR) interactive–invites visitors to see themselves in the historical and modern-day professions Amelia employed. Participants step in front of a gesture-reactive screen, then a digital image of their face is overlaid on an avatar that mirrors their movements and shows how they’d look in each uniform.

A timeline wall and 3D holograms showcase the evolution of flight. The capacitive display, accompanied by two aircraft engines and engine pieces, allows visitors to learn how airplanes operate. When participants touch one of the engine pieces, an illustration appears on the screen to showcase its function. Visitors can also test their mechanical eye in an effort to restore Muriel–the world’s last remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E and model Amelia piloted on her final flight.

An imitation of the Muriel cockpit equipped with real flight controls offers a sense of Amelia’s tight flying quarters. Outside the flight deck is a Garmin avionics suite and touchscreen where visitors can browse advancements since Amelia's era.

AEHM’s mezzanine features “Amelia’s Guiding Lights”--a massive ceiling element designed to unveil how Amelia navigated flight paths. By pressing the buttons on the table, each constellation illuminates overhead. Visitors can practice celestial navigation using a sextant, analyze different atmospheric layers and get an up-close look at authentic tools.

Finally, visitors test their pilot skills in a VR flight experience. Stations include two steering yokes and VR headsets. Players embark on a lifelike flight path, piloting to either land successfully in France or reroute to Ireland. AEHM was named one of USA TODAY’S 10Best Readers' Choice Awards for Best New Museum 2024.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is increasing the size of its current facilities by 50 percent. Adding nearly 100,000 square feet to the 200,000-square-foot facility, the expansion will allow the museum to showcase its growing collection and welcome more visitors to experience the power of art, in an inclusive environment. Envisioned to support Crystal Bridges’ commitment to free access to art for all, the new space will increase capacity for presenting art and exhibitions, educational and outreach initiatives, cultural programming, and community events. Increased gallery space (by 65 percent) will allow the museum to present art with two new galleries while also adding to existing space for temporary exhibitions and offering new spaces for community displays and in-gallery engagements.

This past year, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened three experimental gallery spaces. One experimental space focuses on the art of American craft; woodworking, ceramics, textiles. This space not only explores how we play with our collection, but how we plan and execute both physical and digital engagements. This space plays a significant role in the institution’s digital expansion through a digital interactive pilot focused on contemporary artist processes of woodworking.

This presentation will illustrate the processes of creating this interactive pilot including leading an multi-departmental task force, participating in a global web3 technology cohort and tech accelerator program (Web3 for Arts and Culture), and producing an experience that transcends the in-person experience through an online gaming platform (Spatial.io).

Through a tech accelerator program called Web3 for Arts and Culture (https://wac-lab.xyz), the museum partnered with a digital agency, Broken Egg (brokenegg.io). Together, they developed an immersive experience that guides visitors through the woodworking processes of various artists represented in the museum’s permanent collection.