Conference Presentations

Curating Exhibitions as Public Scholarship | On Museums & Community Collections | November 25, 2020 | UBC Public Humanities Hub

"The Linear, The Virtual, & The Game: Digital Exhibits”

Presenters: Nicola Levell & Anna Nielsen

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With the advent of COVID-19 museums around the world, on lockdown, began expanding and fast-tracking their digital content in the hope of engaging audiences, retaining staff, and satisfying documented cravings for cultural nourishment. Digital exhibits were a large part of their new, online offerings. In our presentation, we asked: how effective have digital exhibits been, not just in attracting but also sustaining visitor engagement? What form might they take now, and in the future? We began by discussing three broad digital-exhibit types: the linear, the virtual, and the game. This typology, we explained, is unavoidably reductive in nature, but it provides a base for thinking critically about the possibilities—the scope and limitations—of these different digital iterations that have become increasingly visible online. The majority of digital exhibits we surveyed retain a documentary and didactic flavor with emphasis still resting on passive consumption (looking, listening, reading). Even virtual reality (VR) assets are largely replicating the “real” and not capitalizing on the hypermediated potential of the digital realm to capture the multidimensional facets of exhibition atmospheres. To seduce visitors, we argued, museums may need to reimagine the digital exhibit, creating an innovative and hybridized assemblage of activities, programs, conversations, talks, tours, and participatory events. To further conversation, we focused on our Shadows, Strings & Other Things virtual exhibit to explore the opportunities and challenges for diversifying content, expanding public accessibility, and engaging and satisfying audiences.

Collaboration, Digital Humanities Conference | Panel Digital Exhibitions | October 30th, 2020 |  University of British Columbia

"Shadows, Strings, and Other Things: Digitizing and Extending the Exhibition Experience”​

Presenters: Nicola Levell, Anna Nielsen & Erika Balcombe

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How can we emulate the exploration of a museum exhibit through a digital site and how can we increase access to museums' educational resources? These questions were the drivers for the creation of the website and virtual exhibition experience for Shadows, Strings, and Other Things, an exhibition at UBC-V’s Museum of Anthropology. The global pandemic that closed museums and schools and kept families inside was the catalyst that both accelerated the timeline itself and signaled the need for this digital content. What started as an archival scan of an exhibition resulted in the base point for an innovative digital platform that allows virtual exploration, extends its longevity beyond the physical run, and contextualizes its knowledge. This paper explores the current field of virtual exhibits within museum studies and demonstrates their opportunities for public engagement and access while also discussing our own collaborative process and the myriad of challenges we faced.

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