Page 276 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2015276Labs thus provide museums with an excellent opportunity for research, establishing links with the community, technological developmentand the application of cultural innovation that generates shared knowledge from which every- one benefits.This section will take a look at some significant examples of these spaces and the different ways of combining museum, technology, experimen- tation and knowledge.In 2006, the Louvre, in collaboration with Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd. (DNP), decided to set in motion a new project devoted to research and dialogue with the public in order to open up new channels in the emotional relationship that is established between art and visitors: the DNP Museum Lab.161 Various multimedia tools were used for this purpose to provide wider viewpoints from which to examine how people relate to artworks. The first phase of the project lasted three years.The DNP Museum Lab is an experimental space in which the Louvre exhibits works and makes available to visitors resources for understanding and enjoying them, using different technological devices. Exhibitions are renewed every six months.Research revolves around three themes:• See: offering keys that allow visitors to develop their skills at viewing artworks.• Understand: exploring the most appropriate methods of transmitting the content of works and helping visitors understand their full complexity.• Experience: offering visitors the possibility of experiencing an artwork and making them autonomous so that they can apply the knowledge gained with any artwork.The keyword in this project is mediation, taken to mean the full range of tools and resources that should be used to forge a strong link between the visitor and the artwork: exhibitions, catalogues, curatorial work, lectures, guided tours, workshops and interactive installations. The DNP Lab Museum invites visitors to experiment with the idea of an “artwork encoun- ter”, taking the time needed and using all the resources made available to them.In view of the success of the project, the second phase was launched in 2010, extending the initiatives to different museum departments. It was due to be completed in 2014.The aim of the Media Lab of the MET is to explore how technology affects the museum experience for staff and visitors, which muse- ums, as major containers of cultural expressions, have the duty to be familiar with and develop.Its work is focused on two areas: the digital tools that democratise the production of content, and the current tendency to collaborate and distrib- ute shared knowledge.Focus 2015. Museums and New Technologies