Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app
Due to the costs involved with renovating exhibitions at natural history museums, some permanent exhibits stay on display unchanged for decades. The Bone Hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has remained intact for 51 years. Here we discuss this exhibition as a stark exemplif...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade de Évora
2015-12-01
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| Series: | Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/midas/933 |
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| author | Diana Marques Robert Costello |
| author_facet | Diana Marques Robert Costello |
| author_sort | Diana Marques |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Due to the costs involved with renovating exhibitions at natural history museums, some permanent exhibits stay on display unchanged for decades. The Bone Hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has remained intact for 51 years. Here we discuss this exhibition as a stark exemplification of a science-only, art-free approach to communicating ideas and how creative reimaginings of the visitor experience have made it more accessible for the majority of visitors. Within the Bone Hall, mounted skeletons are displayed in static poses without any hint of movement and interpretation of their behaviors and text labels describe, in esoteric language, skeletal details. In a rare opportunity to redesign the visitor experience for an existing exhibition, we produced a mobile app. The app is guided by concepts in the natural sciences, yet inspired by artistic ideas applied to audio, video and 3D animation, which created a multisensory visitor experience. Indispensable to the approach was a production team comprised of individuals rooted in the arts/humanities and sciences. They used their crafts to make science more accessible to non-specialized visitors through audio/visual creations. Interviews and surveys with visitors confirmed the value of producing artistic interpretations of science as a more effective method of communication in the exhibit. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c9f4c4c11c274a7db76008a7753a2fab |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2182-9543 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
| publisher | Universidade de Évora |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares |
| spelling | doaj-art-c9f4c4c11c274a7db76008a7753a2fab2024-12-09T15:18:43ZengUniversidade de ÉvoraMidas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares2182-95432015-12-01510.4000/midas.933Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile appDiana MarquesRobert CostelloDue to the costs involved with renovating exhibitions at natural history museums, some permanent exhibits stay on display unchanged for decades. The Bone Hall at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has remained intact for 51 years. Here we discuss this exhibition as a stark exemplification of a science-only, art-free approach to communicating ideas and how creative reimaginings of the visitor experience have made it more accessible for the majority of visitors. Within the Bone Hall, mounted skeletons are displayed in static poses without any hint of movement and interpretation of their behaviors and text labels describe, in esoteric language, skeletal details. In a rare opportunity to redesign the visitor experience for an existing exhibition, we produced a mobile app. The app is guided by concepts in the natural sciences, yet inspired by artistic ideas applied to audio, video and 3D animation, which created a multisensory visitor experience. Indispensable to the approach was a production team comprised of individuals rooted in the arts/humanities and sciences. They used their crafts to make science more accessible to non-specialized visitors through audio/visual creations. Interviews and surveys with visitors confirmed the value of producing artistic interpretations of science as a more effective method of communication in the exhibit.https://journals.openedition.org/midas/933science communicationmobile appaugmented realitySmithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History |
| spellingShingle | Diana Marques Robert Costello Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app Midas: Museus e Estudos Interdisciplinares science communication mobile app augmented reality Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History |
| title | Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app |
| title_full | Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app |
| title_fullStr | Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app |
| title_full_unstemmed | Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app |
| title_short | Skin & bones: an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app |
| title_sort | skin amp bones an artistic repair of a science exhibition by a mobile app |
| topic | science communication mobile app augmented reality Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/midas/933 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dianamarques skinampbonesanartisticrepairofascienceexhibitionbyamobileapp AT robertcostello skinampbonesanartisticrepairofascienceexhibitionbyamobileapp |