Museums have been implementing interactive exhibits for many years, of course. But the adoption has been decidedly uneven throughout the museum world. Not surprisingly, science centers and children’s museums have been an easy fit with new and emerging technologies and have done some of the most interactive projects. Classical art museums have tended to be at the other end of the spectrum as late adopters. Perhaps they see themselves and their clientèle as too conservative, or feel their subject matter is incompatible. But even they seem to be coming around.
The National Gallery in London, a conservative art institution if ever there was one, has teamed up with Eurostar (the rail service giant and operator of the Chunnel train) to virtually exhibit a selection of its collection at an interactive outpost gallery at St Pancras station. St Pancras, for those unfamiliar, is a bit like New York’s Grand Central Station on steroids. Rail travel is of course much bigger in Europe than the states and St Pancras is the gateway to trains to the rest of Europe. So this gallery will get a lot of exposure amongst an international audience.
The art itself is displayed on glass partitions. Eurostar could have stopped here and made it simply digital signage but evidently they had greater vision. The interactive element is that waiting passengers can control each of the displays by selecting various artworks from the National Gallery’s collection from touch screens embedded in coffee tables. It’s a creative idea that allows people to have a dialog with the art as well as to have exposure to information about each piece. We hope to see more art museums thinking along these lines.
Thanks to the 24 Hour Museum for this story.
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