Challenge
The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is a visible art storage and study center located within the newly renovated Smithsonian American Art Museum. In the Center, 3300 paintings and artifacts that once remained hidden from public view are now on display in floor-to-ceiling glass cases.
The Luce Foundation Center’s open storage design reflects actual Smithsonian storage techniques, and minimal information is included in the displays. The Center needed to provide visitors with tools to explore the collections.
Solution
Mediatrope built ten touch-screen kiosks that provide information on every artwork on display through images, artist biographies, audio interviews, and videos. Visitors can also locate artworks, post comments and create personal scrapbooks that they can email themselves.
Results
All the kiosk content is also available on the Luce Foundation Web site. Online visitors can continue working on their scrapbooks, creating and sharing personal collections through the “MyCollection” feature. The kiosks and Web site are powered by a single Sitebots® system that allows non-technical staff to manage the interactive content in real-time.
2007 MUSE Award American Association of Museums