Abstract
This research focuses on new strategies for participatory, inclusive design engagement and the creation of an augmented reality interactive exhibit companion for MiniMuseums, a mobile public art installation. Over the course of four months during the COVID-19 pandemic, this project incorporated qualitative artist interviews and user-generated data from a series of three dialogic, asynchronous time-released design probes in-situ to understand the emotional, perceptive, and immersive qualities necessary for exhibit companions to drive interaction and engagement with public art. Rather than situate the AR MiniMuseums companion within prescriptive models of understanding and appreciating art, this study focused on how to design a discrete, open framework that allowed for many realism of interaction and interpretation that are otherwise closed off by other forms of digital experiential art. Drawing on the conceptual public art used for these mobile installations, as well as a deep study of the overlapping heuristics of human-computer interaction, neuroaesthetics, and interactive art, the MiniMuseums companion also considers the minimum level of immersion within the exhibit necessary to elicit an understanding of the public art and drive multisensory, embodied aesthetic experience without overwhelming or distorting the purpose and function of the exhibit. This study includes the resulting design artifact (the MiniMuseums Companion) from the design probe series, as well as the implications of using design probes as a technique for facilitating distributed, asynchronous participatory design for museums and public art.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Virtual Exhibitions, Inclusive Design, Community Engagement, Augmented Reality, Participatory Design
