Category: Research

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The Museum of the World – The British Museum goes back in time

https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/

A virtual journey through time (over two million years) and across the five continents is what the “museum of the world”, initiated by the British Museum and the Google Cultural Institute, promises. The site, conceived as a long chronological frieze, offers a fascinating plunge into the history of humanity and the collections of the British institution (which contains some seven million objects!). On the frieze, each point, whose colour varies according to geographical location, refers to a detailed record of the work. The little extra? While it is easy to get lost in this galaxy of dots, it is possible to highlight, on the frieze, only one continent or one theme (among art and design, life and death, power and identity, religion and belief, trade and conflict). There is currently no French version of the site. To fully appreciate the experience, mastering the language of Shakespeare is essential!

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Pauline Saglio – Interactiv Design

www.sagl.io

This project aims to highlight the richness of Hermès’ creative processes surrounding the world of silk. The spectator is invited to discover the different facets of this product through several playful experiences in store, which include the main steps in the creation of the Hermès squares, which offer a a surprising encounter with the world of silk.
This installation offers the customer a new perspective on the traditional square Hermès which actually hides a large number of surprises, that the customer is invited to discover through several interactive steps.

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What does ‘museum’ actually mean? Unusual museums from around the globe

Rebecca Carlsson
Original paper on MuseumNext>

From strange artworks to severed heads, it’s safe to say that the word “museum” is a an umbrella term that can be interpreted in many unique and unorthodox ways.

Most people have an image that comes to mind when they hear the word “museum”, and chances are it’s an image of quiet halls, neatly hung artworks, and artefacts carefully displayed in glass cases.

And while many museums follow this basic blueprint, there are certainly those that choose a different path. In reality, the title of “museum” can refer to a whole host of different spaces and experiences.

With thousands of museums across the globe, each with their own subject matter, items and atmosphere, developing an overarching definition for cultural institutions is almost impossible. To celebrate the diversity of the museum space, we’re going to take a closer look at some of the weirdest and most wonderful museums from around the world.

The Plastinarium – Guben, Germany

Sometimes museums aim to teach us more about the world around us, and sometimes they ask us to look inwards in order to learn something about ourselves. In the case of the Plastinarium, the museum gets us to do this in quite a graphic way.

© MuseumNext

After nearly four decades of studying medicine and dissection, Gunther von Hagens perfected the controversial process of plastination, in which polymers are used to preserve human tissue. Visitors to the Plastinarium can see the results of this process, receiving a graphic lesson in anatomy by viewing humans and animals in creative poses.

…. >>>

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Natural History Museum Reaches Millions with TikTok

Jim Richardson
Original paper on MuseumNext>

When you think of the latest innovations that are allowing museums around the world to reach new audiences, perhaps snail jokes aren’t top of your list. But a museum in Pittsburgh has proved that a simple idea well executed can win over a new generation of fans.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History has attracted millions views of films of Tim Pearce, a curator at the museum telling snail jokes on the video-sharing social networking website TikTok.

The app is popular with 13-21 year old’s, with over 1 billion people downloading it. That makes it bigger than Instagram.

The content is mainly around dancing, singing and lip synching to music, movies or sound bites. Users create short looped videos, then have the option of adding music and Snapchat style stickers or filters. While hashtags make the content searchable.

The fun content makes it appeal to teenagers. And it would seem that teenagers like snails.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History have posted 12 films on TikTok, with the most viewed attracting over 1.5 million views. That’s more people than visited all four institutions in the Carnegie Museums Of Pittsburgh group last year.

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6 of the weirdest (and most wonderful) museum marketing campaigns you’ll ever see

Manuel Charr
Original paper on MuseumNext>

Art is known for pushing the boundaries in a number of different ways. But what happens when museums carry this mindset over into their marketing campaigns?

© Tate Britain museum

One of the biggest challenges facing any museum is fighting against the preconceived notion that museums are “boring”. The cliched museum is a silent, intimidating space that doesn’t offer much in the way of fun, and while many museums successfully break this mould, the stereotype still exists for many people.

To cut through the stigma and entice new, diverse audiences, it is important for institutions to carefully consider how they develop and deliver bold, powerful marketing campaigns. And while not every campaign idea that involves “blue sky thinking” is worth implementing, there are certainly some quirky and off the wall ideas that retain a special place in our hearts.

I want to take a look at some of my favourite museum campaigns that fall firmly outside the box, in order to show just how impactful the right kind of marketing can be. Let’s take a look.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vlUiwDiSzw&feature=emb_logo
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Museums must become the better Netflix

ZKM-Direktor Peter Weibel
Monopol, Magazin für Kunst und Leben

The Corona pandemic has driven art into the digital realm – curator Peter Weibel was already there. Here the ZKM director explains why virtual events dominate reality – and why proximity in the museum is a fiction that is now coming to an end.

Mr Weibel, you curate the Karlsruhe Schlosslichtspiele, among others. How do reality and digital art interact?

The castle light show is a highly technical event. With “Projection Mapping”, images are not simply projected onto a cinema screen. Instead, each group of artists receives a computer-based 3D model of the castle and is then commissioned to incorporate the architecture of the facade into the images. This means that every pixel of the façade becomes part of a composition and is transformed by it. The façade moves, it can collapse or become a waterfall with water coming out of the windows. Through a projected fantasy world one can let the real one sink, so to speak. In the case of the castle light games, one can already see a dominance of the virtual, but the real façade still needs this as a carrier medium.

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Time and Frequency Laboratory of the Neuchâtel University

Website

The LTF’s mission is to explore and push the frontiers in time and frequency research, optical metrology, and ultrafast science and technology.

LTF also contributes Switzerland to join in a near future the limited number of countries that actively participate to the definition of the international atomic time TAI with primary frequency standards, with the development of the unique atomic fountain clock FOCS-2 that operates with a continuous beam of cold cesium atoms.

© LTF

Key competences

LTF’s key competences to achieve its research objectives are:

  • Ultrafast lasers development and analysis
  • Various frequency combs systems
  • State-of-the-art ion beam sputtering (IBS) machine for custom optics fabrication
  • Cold atoms
  • Noise/stability analysis for microwave/optical oscillators
  • Stabilisation of microwave/optical oscillators
  • Vapour cells manufacturing and characterisation
  • CPT and double resonance spectroscopy in alkali vapour cells
  • Vapour cells atomic clocks
  • Time & Frequency metrology
  • State-of-the-art reference H-maser
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Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM)

Website
Annual Report 2019

This research centre occupies the other buildings on the Neuchâtel Observatory site. In 2007, part of the Observatory’s activities were transferred to the MSRC. Its credo is:
Managing and fostering innovation to convert groundbreaking basic research into advanced processes, leading to innovative products and helping industry and society prepare for the future.

Its activities cover the following areas: Aeronautics & transportation; Biotechnology & life sciences; Information & communication technologies; Energy & building solutions; Environment; Watchmaking; Home & industrial automation; Healthcare, wellness & sport; Security & surveillance; Semiconductor industry; Space & astrophysics; Food & agriculture,…

History
CSEM’s success story began in the early 1980s as a result of the visionary plans of the Swiss Confederation.

Mission & Vision
Championing industrial innovation and maintaining our role as a cornerstone in the transfer of disruptive microtechnologies.

Governance
CSEM is a research and technology organization (RTO) and a public-private partnership.

Partnerships
Building alliances and strategic partnerships is vital to coping with the fast pace of technological innovation and product development cycles.

Start-ups
Start-ups or joint-ventures based on CSEM technologies contribute to the economic vitality of Switzerland and of established and emerging industries.

Certifications
CSEM has been assessed and is certified as a demonstration of its commitment to best practice, efficiency, and sustainability.

87 million turnover
499 people
44 ventures
212 industrial clients

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Torn Island – A spatial audio experience

Design: Kossmanndejong
Article on Dutch Design Dayli

This story unfolds in the dunes of the Dutch island Texel in a bunker from World War II that has recently been acquired by the Aviation & War Museum Texel.

Visitors crawl into the minds of Georgian soldiers, five days after their bold and bloody uprising. Having to admit failure, they decided it is every man for himself now. In this unique spatial audio experience you listen to the echo of a past that divides the island until today.

Michel de Vaan (lead designer): “This was a chance for us to design a narrative space that uses 3D audio as its only tool. It communicates the story in a very personal manner, but it is also the means to immerse visitors. Most importantly, leaving almost no visual elements allows for visitors to use the most versatile of media: their own minds.”

To create an audio drama that feels authentic, Kossmanndejong collaborated with professional actors and podcast-makers. Wandering through the bunker you will hear different dialogues between people who were in the bunker that day and you will get to understand their dilemma’s. Through a multi-dimensional sound system with very precise geo-tracking you will hear changes in direction and volume depending on where you walk

Bunker Vlijt Texel. Luchtvaart Museum Texel. Photo’s Thijs Wolzak