The Life of Art
2012
How do objects end up in a museum? Discover the answer to that question from the artworks themselves in this multiple-format interactive project. The Life of Art enables visitors to retrace the lives of a lidded bowl, a silver fountain, a side chair, and a wall light in the museum's collection by examining physical clues. The interactive features stunning photography, animations, video, and 360-degree rotations that bring the rich biographies of these objects to life. We developed three versions of the project. The iPad-based kiosks are displayed next to the objects in the museum gallery. The interactives are packaged together into an iPad app that is freely available. And an online version of the interactives were produced for delivery on the museum’s website.
Recognition
American Association of Museums MUSE Award
Reviews & Comments
“Communicating the visitor’s place in a non-linear experience can be challenging, and this free application does it unusually well. The clean, appealing design makes for an elegant experience that underscores and articulates the information being presented.”
— American Association of Museums
“What's particularly noteworthy about the basic app is that while it works on any iPad at any time, visitors to the museum can use a special version of the app that adds augmented reality features that are displayed when the visitor holds one of several museum-owned iPads up in front of the items.”
— CNET