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Immersion in Museums

#mcn2013immersion

What does immersion in

museums look like?

Ed RodleyPeabody Essex Museum

“Museums are wormholes to other worlds”

-Jerry Saltz(on Reddit of all places)

I’ve only ever cried once in a

museum

This is where I work

This is also where I work

So I wonder about immersion and how

we can use it.

The kinds of immersive museum

experiences

CC-BY-SA 3.0 image from Wikipedia user Daderot

Share space with Share space with historyhistory

Observe a momentObserve a moment

Observe a set pieceObserve a set piece

Get lost in it allGet lost in it all

Take in a showTake in a show

What are the hallmarks of immersive

experiences?•Realism of the illusion•Dimensionality•Multi-sensory stimulation •Meaningfulness•Mental imagery•Lack of interfering factors

So what?

Immersion is a means, not an end

Immersion can contribute to a flow

experience

With apologies to M. Csíkszentmihályi

How does immersion work in other media?

So, I asked around. And here we are.

How do you create realistic and

appropriate viewer expectations for an immersive museum

experience?

How do you strike the right balance

between providing scaffolding and

freedom for visitors to control the flow of their

own experience?

How do you create a relationship

between the visitor and the characters

in the story -- whether those characters are

objects, artworks, or actors?

How do you create opportunities for visitors to have

shared experiences that don't break the immersion?

When the curator is no longer simply the teacher, what is her or his role in

this new type of exhibition

experience?

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