Date of Award

Spring 6-3-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Design (MDes) in Interior Studies / Exhibition + Narrative Environments

Department

Interior Architecture

First Advisor

Eduardo Benamor Duarte

Second Advisor

Michael Grugl

Third Advisor

Nick Heywood

Abstract

The modern history of art viewing moves from private collections to public museums, and the modern museum arises with an intention to encourage a broad range of visitors. However, if we look at the reality of museum access, especially in the digital era, when the methods of attaining knowledge and information have grown ever stronger, it is easy to notice the single-direction circuit of information in the operation of museums from curators to the public, which seems outdated in the times of social media, AI and metaverse. Even if a broad range of visitors enter the museum, the information they are presented with moves in one direction: from curators to the public. Given the ever-increasing access to knowledge and information in the age of social media and AI, this form of institutional gatekeeping seems outdated.

This thesis aims to draw an image of a possible supplement system for museums in emulation of the open access of the Internet. This thesis touches on important concepts, such as information, knowledge, power, and democracy, and how these come into contact with one another. The thesis would like to talk about three different roles in the process: the museum itself, the objects, and the visitor. Demolishing the museum’s traditional role as an authority or expert, it transforms into a platform for knowledge sharing and growth. In the new system, the exhibition value is separated from the cult value of authenticity by digitalization of the objects, removing their aura but creating freedom of information. Current museums will provide a resource for digital databases, in which way the inner value of the collections, the distilled knowledge attached to the pieces, are deprived from the physical objects, and transferred into a digital state, perhaps flatter but easy for circulation. Visitors will have more chances and more approaches to use the resources. They can collect, share, comment, communicate, learn, make connections, and even have an impact on the museum in reverse, from visitor to curator. With techniques of Virtual Reality, a 3D shared space will serve as the platform. The huge memory capacity and open nature of the internet will bring the opportunity to record individual voices and allow active information circulation, utilizing the objects and knowledge already present but locked in museums.

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