In Focus: Digital Technologies and Exhibition Experience

From the earliest interactive kiosks developed in the 1990s to the AR, VR, and AI experiences of today, digital technologies have long served as an important tool for engaging, informing, and entertaining exhibition visitors. Realized through a complex interplay of technological, curatorial, and institutional forces, these innovative approaches provide a powerful compliment to traditional interpretation methods through interactive and immersive multi-media experiences that present new perspectives and entry points to exhibition content. This course will explore the history and role of the digital in the museum, gallery, and cultural heritage spaces with an aim to put that knowledge into practice for the upcoming exhibition, Consuming Culture: British and American Biscuit Tins from the Great Exhibition to the Second World War, co-curated by Deborah Krohn and Susan Weber, to open in February 2027 at BGC. With the aim of having students develop their own digital interactive proposal and prototype for the Consuming Culture exhibition, this course will focus on two main areas: the first will center on an historical overview of digital technologies utilized in exhibition design over the past three decades, tracing developments in tools and tactics to better understand the evolving relationship between technology, exhibition materials, and public engagement. The second will explore the history of British and American biscuit tins, made between 1860 and 1940, through a series of lectures, discussions, and readings designed to give students a background on these unique objects and the important themes and concepts of the upcoming exhibition. Building on these two knowledge bases, students will work in groups throughout the semester to develop a digital interactive proposal and prototype that explores and expands upon the themes of the upcoming biscuit tins exhibition. Through hands-on working sessions students will identify objects, approaches, and tools for their projects and then present them to the exhibition organizers with the potential for inclusion in the upcoming exhibition. This course will automatically fulfill the Digital Literacy Requirement. Students do not need to have a digital background or skillset to take this course, but must be willing to learn and engage with digital tools to fulfill the main course objectives. 3 credits. MDP