Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative visitor study of PLACE-Hampi, a ground-breaking interactive and immersive museum installation focused on the sacred, historical, archaeological, and architectural spaces of the UNESCO world heritage site Monument at Hampi in South India. This seminal exhibition has toured the world for three years to five major venues and was most recently installed at the Immigration Museum, Melbourne as part of the exhibition Ancient Hampi: The Hindu Kingdom Brought to Life (2008-2010). This paper aims to show how different interpretative communities in a multicultural city constructed meaning during their experience of the interactive and immersive installation PLACE-Hampi. The questions asked in this paper include what the different communities that engaged with the exhibition learnt, in an informal way, from their immersive experience of another culture and how museums can improve inclusivity by using contextualized and ‘open work’ immersive projects when designing exhibitions.