Future of Museum VR/AR

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Jeffrey Wiggins
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Future of Museum VR/AR Interview with the founders of a Museum VR/AR Company in New York MediaCombo* by Diana Chen MediaCombo, an award-winning New York based digital media team, firmly believes that

1 Future of Museum VR/AR Interview with the founders of a Museum VR/AR Company in New York MediaCombo* by Diana Chen MediaCombo, an award-winning New York based digital media team, firmly believes that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will be power tools for designing experiences and telling stories in museums from now on. MediaCombo was founded in 2004 and since then, principals Robin White Owen and Michael Owen have provided customized digital media design and development to museums and cultural organizations. In addition to producing AR and VR, their expertise includes producing websites and kiosk based interactive applications, mobile applications and video. Their clients include The Morgan Library & Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, International Center of Photography, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and the American Museum of Natural History, among many others. In the following interview, they talk about their approach to producing museum based, immersive digital experiences that engage and inspire audiences. 1. How did you begin to think about bringing digital technology into art institutions? *This is an edited version of an interview with MediaCombo principals Robin White Owen and Michael Owen, that appeared at art.china.cn/exclusive/ /20/content_ htm, on November 20 th, 2017.

2 MO: Digital technology offers new forms of delivery, and new ways of telling stories. For example, with interactive programs available on kiosks it s easier to store a depth of information that would be impossible to show in a linear video. You want to tell a compelling video story in 5 or 10 minutes, max. But the fact that a museum can provide interactive kiosks with layers of information available on the screen, means that they can add significantly to the exhibition content available in the gallery. They can individualize the experience by allowing people who want more information to explore the content in depth. This trend will continue as devices get more robust. People will be able to have experiences that are much more personalized to their interests but still built around the story of the exhibition. We can give visitors experiences that are much more personalized to their interests, but still built around the story of the exhibition. RWO: Mobile audio tours, which we also produce, provide a different type of flexibility. With an audio tour, visitors can access more information about an object or artwork at their convenience, when they re standing in front of it and their curiosity is peaked. Or they can simply ignore it if they re not interested. 2. Why are VR and AR so compelling? MO: Virtual reality offers a truly unique and powerful experience. The greatest thing about VR is that people can literally feel themselves immersed in the midst of real or imagined places, events and time periods. They gain a much deeper understanding of these situations than they would with any other method.

3 Ivolginsky Datsan (Origin: MediaCombo) VR can be used to bring a museum installation to life in a way that no other experience can. For example, The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art here in New York, has a beautiful, extremely accurate installation of a Buddhist temple that visitors can enter, sit down, and meditate, if they like. The Museum would like to augment this experience by giving visitors the opportunity to experience the VR documentary we shot at the Involginsky Datsan outside of Lake Baikal. When visitors put on the VR gear they will be standing in this magnificent temple, surrounded by chanting monks, intense drumming and silent worshippers, immersed in an actual Buddhist ceremony conducted by temple monks. The most important thing though, is to ask what story are you telling? Is that a story that really can be told in virtual reality? RWO: Augmented Reality provides an entirely different, delightful experience. It s not as immersive but then it can be more social. For example, we re working on an Augmented Reality audio tour for The Morgan Library and Museum right now, in collaboration with the mobile tour company, GuidiGO. By using 3D animations and spatial sound visitors will be able to see and hear things in the museum that they d never have access to otherwise, and will thus be able to appreciate the collections and the building, and even Pierpont Morgan himself, in an entirely new way. Preview of the Morgan Library Project (origin: MediaCombo) RWO: The most important thing though, is to ask what story are you telling? Is that a story

4 that really can be told in virtual reality? People are madly exploring the story telling potential of the medium right now but not every story needs a 360º environment. A great museum experience in my view is one where visitors have really enjoyed themselves and learned something personally meaningful about the exhibition or collection. Museums need to build quality experiences for their audience. I think that's where we can be really helpful because we're already aware of all these issues and have worked through many of them. We can help clients and partners figure out how to craft a story that will work successfully and compellingly in virtual reality, or advise them to use a more appropriate technology. 3. In the VR/AR world, what are the challenges you ve encountered so far? And what are the challenges you foresee to come in the future? MO: To me, the biggest challenge in both the AR and VR world is the lack of established protocols or solutions for viewing content. The biggest challenge in both the AR and VR world is the lack of established protocols or solutions for viewing content. These technologies are fairly expensive, technically complex, and labor intensive. You have to think through the logistics too, for example: what kind of equipment would be used to play it back? How many headsets do you provide so visitors aren t standing around waiting for their turn? How much staff do you need to help people get set up with their headsets? There is also the fact that when you're using virtual reality you're isolated, completely cut off from everybody, and many people go to museums for the social, sharing experience. For the AR experience at The Morgan, the museum has to provide a specific, expensive tablet with a hardware feature called Tango, just for people to take the AR tour. But ultimately these logistical and cost hurdles will be overcome soon. 4. What do you think a great museum experience is? How can digital media help to enrich that experience? RWO: A great museum experience in my view is one where visitors have really enjoyed themselves and learned something personally meaningful about the exhibition or collection. Our goal is to create digital media experiences that have that kind of impact on people. To

accomplish this our method begins with a review of four things: the objective of the project, the story be conveyed, the audience they re aiming at, the context.

5 accomplish this our method begins with a review of four things: the objective of the project, the story be conveyed, the audience they re aiming at, the context. Knowing these things enables us to recommend the most suitable technology to deliver the experience. Screenshot of the Contemporary Jewish Museum Project (origin: MediaCombo) For example, a museum came to us a few years ago, seeking a video for their Gertrude Stein exhibition. They wanted to show off the many newspaper articles written about her when she came back to the United States in 1934 and traveled around the country on a highly publicized speaking tour. Because she was a wordsmith, newspaper reporters loved interviewing and writing about her. But who's going to look at a video of newspaper clippings? Instead we suggested creating a touch screen application to let visitors choose what to read. We designed the app to look like a newspaper, since that was the focus of the Museum s content. Then we ended up building out multiple sections one for the news, one for cartoons about Stein, one picture gallery, and even an interactive map that showed all 40 stops on her itinerary and what she did there. It really grew so much bigger than just this one thing, and it was so much more useful and more fun to explore! Understanding what the museum wants to say, to whom, and in what context, those are the first things you have to figure out.

6 Understanding what the museum wants to say, to whom, and in what context, those are the first things you have to figure out. Then we can recommend whether it should be a video, an audio tour, an augmented reality experience, etc. 5. I know Michael did an award-winning VR project about Lake Baikal. Could you describe what the project is? MO: I wanted to be able to do something with virtual reality because I believe in it as a technology, and Baikal is a dramatic, iconic place in Russia, like a mixture of Statue of Liberty and Grand Canyon in the U.S. It s also the largest body of liquid fresh water on the planet. 20% of the water on planet Earth is in Lake Baikal! I'd been studying the Lake for a different project and then Google expeditions sponsored us to shoot in Russia and we used this opportunity to produce a virtual reality film using 12 cameras to create a 360º immersive experience in and around Lake Baikal. It has so far been shown at film festivals in Dubai, in Cannes, Amsterdam and Sheffield, England. Lake Baikal Project (origin: MediaCombo) 6. What has the reaction been from museum visitors? What kind of feedback have you received? MO: People love the feeling of being so thoroughly transported to this other time and place through the VR headset.

7 7. Do you have advice for museums that are thinking about bringing VR or AR to their visitors? RWO: The goal is to create a successful experience for visitors, and the way you do that is to think about the story you want to tell, and the audience you want to reach. If you re aiming at appealing to an older audience, chances are VR is not going to be for them. The hassles with using the technology correctly, with having to wear something over your eyes and ears or hold a device in a particular way, may not be comfortable for them at all. But if you're looking to attract younger viewers, then those are interesting technologies to think about. The story and the personal user experience have to work together. MO: These technologies can connect people to the experiences of others, whether in a game, or an animation, or a documentary, and bring those experiences to life, inspiring empathy, curiosity and usually delight, in a way that nothing else does.

your LEARNING EXPERIENCE

FORMING your LEARNING EXPERIENCE 76% Does the outcome OUTWEIGH the investment? Learning outcomes are significantly improved when using immersive technology over traditional teaching methods. 110% Improvements