EXPLORE.CONNECT.PARTICIPATE. Transforming the Gallery Space into a Mobile Mediated Playground

Abstract

In the recent years, there has been an increasing commitment among museum professionals, designers and artists alike to enhance the ways in which visitors interact with and participate in the gallery exhibits. The explosive growth in mobile media has drawn much interest in the museum sector, as there have been many instances of mobile media embracement in the museum visit. Along with the development of mobile mediated museum visits, museums, galleries and cultural institutions leverage play as an audience development tool in order to entice new audiences enter the museum doors. To that end, the project explores the use of mobile media for museal mediation of play that transcend the conventional way of approaching museum exhibitions. In this regard, the gallery space is transformed into a mobile mediated playground whereby visitors, as players, explore the collections, connect through their mobile devices with the museums mobile apps, and actively participate in the museum visit. The project will analyze this scope through a playful, participatory and visitor experience design process.