Design and Development
Design Forward - Inclusive Exhibitions and Changing Institutions : The Impact of Exhibition Design Towards Access for Visitors and Collections
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Holly Riding
Exploring the symbiotic relationship between exhibition design, spatial planning, and inclusive practices as key determinants of building accessibility within the expansive confines of museum and gallery institutions. Grounded in a multidisciplinary approach, the paper provides a comprehensive overview of collection engagement within large institutions versus in the public, drawing insights from over 10 years of the author's extensive experience in managing the production and delivery of contemporary art installations and architectural exhibition builds across art festivals, cultural institutions, and galleries in Australia and Europe. Informed by theories of interactive design when designing for the public, it delves into strategies to mitigate physical and intellectual barriers, emphasising the significance of cultivating an environment that transcends space and supports a diverse range of content. This conversation represents a unique perspective to the discourse on considering the role of the Exhibition Designer both in and outside of large institutions, and how we create inclusive environments with accessible technology in both physical and digital realms.
Learning Disability and Multimodal Mediation: A Crip Lens for Museum Writings
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Aline Verbeke
Despite heightened attention to inclusion, visitors with a learning disability and their communication needs continue to be overlooked in museum mediation. There has been a rise in employing multimodal tools for museum mediation, but these have mainly targeted the communication needs of specific visitors such as multilingual audiences or visitors with a sensory disability. Moreover, these tools tend to function as a translation of or add-on to written texts, rather than being fundamental features of an art exhibition. This participatory study examines how six participants with a learning disability experience different modes through mediation practices in relation to a contemporary art exhibition. Data were collected through informal conversations and field notes during collaborative workshops. These were organised both individually and in groups and focused on the artworks selected by each participant, combined with at least one mode: written text or spoken dialogue, smell, taste, image, touch, or sound. Through a thematic analysis of the data, each mode was analysed separately. The findings discuss the ways in which participants felt engaged and disengaged with the artworks through each mode. We then consider the implications for the development of an anti-ableist art mediation in museums.
Virtual-Real Fusion: A Study on the Design and Cultural Impact of Metaverse Ritual Experience Mediated by Chatbots
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Guanze Liao
This study explores an innovative approach to experiencing ritual sense in the metaverse environment through chatbot mediation, and its impact on cultural cognition and behavior. We designed a chatbot system integrated with virtual reality, themed around nostalgia culture, serving as a bridge between real and virtual worlds. The research was conducted in two phases: First, we analyzed ritual behaviors in human society and transformed them into cultural elements in the virtual environment. Second, we developed an interactive system and conducted user experience research. Through System Usability Scale (SUS) evaluation and qualitative analysis, we delved into the process of cultural experience transition between virtual and real worlds for users. The results not only provide a new model for cultural interaction in the metaverse but also reveal the unique role of virtual identities (Avatars) in cultural rituals. This research offers a new perspective on understanding cultural inheritance and innovation in the digital age, while also pioneering new approaches for cross-cultural communication in virtual environments.
