Augmented Reality for Cultural Institutions

Since AR technology is evolving and new applications are in a constant state of evolution, the potential for this use case - in exhibition design planning- are still being discovered!

Ultimately AR could serve as a time saver, error-avoidance, collaboration tool, communication facilitator, layout guidance, and vehicle to make decisions. We envision the staff of cultural institutions like: curators, exhibition installers, preparators, directors, art handlers, and facility managers to use this technology.

In looking at the commercial sector as inspiration, here are some ideas for the potential application AR in exhibit design planning:

• Measuring
• Layout creation
• Better sense of exhibition impact/ how the artworks relate to the space
• Mock up creation (inserting the image of the artwork item into the exhibition space)
• Sharing mock up of exhibition layout with artist(s) for approvals
• Planning future exhibitions while other exhibitions are still on display
• Ability to see multiple layout options before final decisions
• Collaboration opportunity between artist and institution staff
• Saving time in potential re-work

The IKEA place app uses AR to measure and map the space in order to layout IKEA furniture within interiors.

Author: Jessika Davis