Museums in the Digital World

With Covid-19 haunting the earth, many of us have increasingly been living in another dimension: the digital world. At the beginning of 2020, various governments of many different countries decided to close most public spaces and to implement a national lock-down to avoid any further spread of the virus. Consequently, many heritage institutions and cultural organisations had to face some impactful financial consequences as people were not allowed to visit their museums anymore. Forced to close their physical doors, many museums decided to turn to the online world and opened their digital doors instead by either showcasing their physical collections online or by elaborating on their already existing digital collections. Now, everyone with a computer and Wifi-connection can enjoy a lovely trip to some of the most amazing museums around the world, all from the comfort of their own home!

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Can Collections be Digital?

Before the current digital age, the term “collection” was often used for a set of physical possessions or objects with specific characteristics, selected carefully by collectors who set determined boundaries to distinguish what types of objects could be relevant for their selection (Watkins, et. al., 2015, p. 3423). To do this, it is important to know what objects are already in one’s possession and where they have been archived, which can be done by means of collection management, i.e. listing and classifying your objects, and thereby creating and curating an inventory (Matassa, 2011, p. 9). Museums and cultural organisations are an example of institutions that “record and hold information” on culturally important objects, as well as “displaying, lending and exhibiting” such archived objects, either to a specific public or to a wider audience (Matassa, 2011, p. 5). 

The practice of collecting and curating was usually based on assembling physical objects specifically (Watkins, et. al., 2015, p. 3424). However, with the increasing use of digital technologies in our modern societies, combined with the quick development of the internet, new opportunities have arisen for collectors and curators which allow them to (re)create their collections in a digital sphere. For example, recent advancements in visualisations, such as data physicalisation and multi-modal integration, offer great opportunities to incorporate material features in digital realms (Florini & Hinrichs, 2017). Such digital resources have proven to be especially useful for such institutions during the outbreak of Covid-19. Whereas before the pandemic the digital realm was considered “an afterthought for expanding an audience beyond the reach of physical spaces,” it has now become a very vital space for cultural organisations, as it allows them to still provide their services to their current audiences, despite the lock-downs (Feinstein, 2020). Consequently, a certain ‘Renaissance’ in the world of cultural organisations happened in which a “digital revolution” enabled curators and museums to still showcase their collections (Tebeau, 2016, p. 480). Moreover, it provided them with the possibility to present their objects in new and innovative ways, thereby expanding the sensory experiences that one can have with a collection.

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Creating Digital Visualisations

In the past, the descriptions of electronic collections were restricted due to a common consideration that electronic objects were immaterial. Kirschenbaum (2002) refers to this phenomenon as “the tactile fallacy,” specifically underlining the belief that digital objects are immaterial because they cannot be touched or physically reached by people (p. 43). However, critics have now acknowledged several reasons as to why digital objects should not be categorised as immaterial or downplayed in their importance (Manoff, 2006, p. 312). First of all, the technologies that provide the possibility to house digital objects are, quite visibly, physical devices: think about the computer drive, the hardware and software, and all the systems and networks that you need to enter a digital realm (Drucker, 2013, p. 6). Secondly, these electronic tools might help to elevate and expand people’s experiences and interpretative possibilities of the collections because they enable the development of “richer connections and metadata relationships” that will provide “broader and deeper contexts” between the objects and their history (Tebeau, 2016, p. 482). Consequently, such digital technologies could allow people to reconstruct the meaning of materiality by expanding the connections between physical and artificial objects and spaces, and by creating “new sensory experiences” in an artificial, digital world (Tebeau, 2016, p. 476).

It, therefore, seems as if digital technologies have allowed new and innovative ways in which historical or cultural materials can be archived, curated, showcased and experienced. Cultural institutions can now store and preserve their collections online and expand the possibilities of engagement for their audience. It is important to notice, though, that the extent to which we have been living in a digital world is being slightly undermined here (Turkel, 2011, p. 291). The world has long been dominated by written texts, which has biased society into thinking that processes of digitisations are merely an act of copying textual material (Turkel, 2011, p. 291). However, if people would reconsider digitisation as a process of conversion, rather than duplication, there would be space for many new potentialities of “creative expressions” in the digital realm for cultural institutions and museums (Turkel, 2011, p. 291). 

Rijksstudio: the Rijksmuseum’s digital archive of 710,781 objects and artworks. Everyone is free to browse throught the archive, create their own collections and (re)create their own artworks by downloading the digitised versions of the objects in the collection | Source: www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio – Video created by: Rebecca Haselhoff (2021).

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Case Study: the Rijksmuseum

Due to the lock-downs, many museums and cultural institutions were forced to convert their practices to the digital world, providing their knowledge and information to their audiences via the internet. Luckily, the widespread integration of advanced digital technologies in our Western society helped such institutions to quickly adapt to this digital realm. Many museums all around the world are now providing their services via “digital collections, virtual tours, and online exhibits” and they have started to post virtual exhibitions, videos, photographs or digital 3D versions of their collections, accompanied by extensive descriptions and metadata (Institute of Museum and Library Services; Agostino et al., 2020, p. 362). 

This shift from analogue to digital objects, however, raises the question as to whether collections can exist as successfully in digital worlds as they have existed in the physical world (Watkins, et. al., 2015, p. 3424). How, for example, can the various physical aspects of objects be communicated in a digital realm? How do you translate all the different physical perceptions of an analogue object into a digital interface? What will happen to the mediation of a physical object when you recreate it in a digital realm? And how do you digitally materialise the environment of such collections? To find out how a museum’s collection could be transferred from a physical world to a digital interface, the website of the Rijksmuseum will be used as a case study to analyse the digitisation process of their objects. Although the website offers a variety of different ways in which the visitor can engage with the museum’s collection, this case study will be focussing on two specific features: Rijksstudio and Masterpieces Up Close.

Rijksstudio

Rijksstudio is the museum’s online, open-source archive that contains 710,781 objects and artworks, showing a good example of collection management in a digital space: it consists of the Rijksmuseum’s complete collection, displaying high-quality photographs of all the objects in categorical range and with an extensive amount of background information. Each item is also displayed with an extensive amount of metadata, including the title, object type, the artist’s name, the dating, physical features, used materials, measurements and subject explanation.

Most of the objects are also accompanied by audio-narratives which provide an oral explanation to the individual archival resources. To expand the auditive sensory experiences for the visitor, these narratives start with a specific sound effect that fits with the particular object: it either provides sounds that mimic the scene depicted in the paintings or it provides a sound that the object would make when someone would physically touch it (e.g.the squeaking sounds of opening the doors of a cabinet). 

As can be seen from these examples, Rijksstudio demonstrates how the digitisation of a collection can be used for conversion purposes rather than merely duplication purposes, as it is not just a digital copy of the museum’s physical archive. The provided meta-data, high-quality images, sound effects and auditive narrations are all important aspect of the remediation process of the objects: by using digital features and multi-modal implementations, the museum was able to expand the collection beyond physical senses and spaces (Florini & Hinrichs, 2017; Feinstein, 2020). Features such as oral narratives, sound effects and high-quality photographs of the physical objects, allows the audience to engage with the collection more interactively, thus re-emphasising and expanding the sensorial experiences one can have when examining the museum’s items. Moreover, by using such a variety of different digital tools, the physical experiences of the collection could be remediated, allowing people to experience it differently “in richer and expanded – both broader and deeper — contexts” (Tebeau, 2016, p. 481).Lastly, providing access to the complete collection via an online public domain allows the audience to make use of the collections in innovative and creative ways, without any such restrictions as one would have when engaging with the collection in real life. 

Masterpieces Up Close

Although Rijksstudio seems to show some very promising digital translations of the Rijksmuseum’s collection, the integration of data physicalisation could still be considered quite sparse. There is, for instance, no adaptation of physical space within this platform. There is also no possibility to engage with a spherical 3D translation of the object, as all of the items in Rijksstudio are translated in 2D visuals. However, after the outbreak of Covid-19, the museum decided to integrate a new feature on their website that would incorporate such data physicalisation: Masterpieces Up Close. As people are currently not allowed to visit the actual museum in Amsterdam, Masterpieces Up Close enables the visitors to virtually take a look in the museum’s Gallery of Honour. In this digitised version of the gallery, people can click on all the different artworks that are hanging in the museum to take a look at it from up close. Similarly to Rijksstudio, each painting is accompanied by an audio-narrative that provides oral information about the artwork. When the narrator talks about specific details of the painting, the visualisations on the computer screen will automatically zoom into these features, showcasing all the details of the painting up close and in high-quality. Sometimes, special effects and extra images or texts will be shown to exemplify the narrator’s information. Furthermore, the walk can be combined with a game called the Key Challenge in which nine keys have to be found that are hidden somewhere in the virtual gallery. Each key is accompanied by a riddle that is themed around the object where the key was found. What is particularly interesting about this challenge, is the fact that the audience is encouraged to take a very close look at any of the small details in the artworks, as those details will contain hints to solve the riddles. 

Secondly, due to the modern-day technological developments, the physicality of a painting can be digitised completely, allowing people to still experience the materiality of the Rijksmuseum’s artworks even when they are at home. They can view a very high-resolution version of the museum’s famous paintings, which allows them to analyse these objects in extreme detail. Every little crack or blob of paint becomes clearly visible, perhaps even more visible than what it would be in real life. Moreover, the incorporation of the Key Challenge is an additional way in which the audience is encouraged to analyse this collection in more detail, providing them with some interesting fun facts about the object that might perhaps not have been pointed out to them in the actual museum. 

Although Masterpieces Up Close does not provide any 3D models of the individual objects, it does provide the audience with a digital visualisation of space as one can virtually visit the Gallery of Honour. Moreover, online visitors can look at and learn about the museum’s collection in extreme detail. Whereas in the actual museum you would perhaps only look at the artworks and objects from a relative distance, the digitised version of the museum allows people to examine their objects in extreme detail whilst getting extensive information about the objects’ histories more interactively. The physical experience of the museum’s collection has, thus, been transformed and re-mediated here and the museum’s informative and sensory possibilities have been extended beyond the physical realm, allowing new and enriching ways of engagement with the collection. Thus, all in all, Masterpieces Up Close seems to exemplify the acceleration of technological evolution and the digital revolution that we experienced in recent years. It shows how digital technologies can be used to provide people with new experiences of historical and cultural objects. It demonstrates how the museum’s physical environment can be successfully materialised in a digital realm, allowing different (and arguably more interactive) ways of exploring the materiality and sensory experiences of their collection. 

Experience The Night Watch: admire a high quality and digitised version of Rembrandt’s most famous painting ‘The Nachtwacht’ whilst listening to various audio-narratives that explain all the details of this artwork | Source: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/masterpieces-up-close– Photos made by: Rebecca Haselhoff (2021)

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What will the future bring?

As can be seen, the Rijksmuseum has implemented Rijksstudio and Masterpieces Up close to digitalise its collection in several different ways. They incorporated more than only digital visualisations of their objects: virtual spatiality and motion, audio narratives and sound effects, historical background information (either in auditive or in textual form), extensive metadata about the object’s physicality and interactive activities are all different features that can be used to enrich the experience of their objects.  All of these different aspects are important when digitising a collection: engaging with the materiality of objects encourages responses that are fully sensory and, thus, demand more than just reliance on the visual sense (Tebeau, 2016, p. 480). By using different technological tools and techniques, the Rijksmuseum invites the public to not only look at the collection but also to listen to the history behind every object, to virtually move around the museum and to interact with their digitised collections in a more playful and creative way.

The pandemic, thus, seems to have enabled some exciting and new opportunities for cultural institutions such as the Rijksmuseum. The digitisation of the Rijksmuseum’s collection is a perfect example of how there seems to have been a shift in the history of archiving, curating and collecting that allows to break the barriers between the analogue and the digital world. The change in the physicality of archived artefacts, from analogue objects to digital, encourages the audience to be more involved in the collection. It will be exciting to see what more opportunities the future will bring. Perhaps, one day, we will be able to interact with 3D versions of the Rijksmuseum’s objects? Or maybe we will be able to project a holographic version of the Night Watch in our own living rooms? I guess only time will tell…

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Would you like to see the collection of the Rijksmuseum from
the comfort of your own home? Click on this button or go to www.rijksmuseum.nl/en

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References

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DOI: 10.1080/09647775.2020.1790029 

Drucker, J. (2013). Performative Materiality and Theoretical Approaches to Interface. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 7(1). Accessed 23 January 2021 from http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/7/1/000143/000143.html

Feinstein, L. (2020). ‘Beginning of a new era’: how culture went virtual in the face of crisis. The Guardian. Retrieved form https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/08/art-virtu al-reality-coronavirus-vr

Florini, S. & Hinrichs, U. (2017). Synesthetic visualization: balancing sensate experience and sense making in digitized print collections, Digital Preservation for Social Sciences and Humanities. Accessed 23 January 2012 from https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/11041. 

Institute of Museum and Library Services. (n.d). Facing Challenge with Resilience: How Museums Are Responding During COVID-19. Accessed 23 January 2021 from https:// www.imls.gov/blog/2020/04/facing-challenge-resilience-how-museums-are-responding- during-covid-19

Kirschenbaum, M. G. (2002). Editing the interface: Textual studies and first generation electronic objects. Text, 14, pp. 15-51. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/30227991

Matassa, F. (2011). Museum Collections Management: A Handbook. Facet Publishing (London). Retrieved from https://books.google.nl/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=Tt8qDgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=museum+collections+management&ots=u8mSEGMZxR&sig=krqh1nMtIhbTjNR4Qxj7xSuDG-s&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=museum%20collections%20management&f=false

Rijksmuseum (2021). Retrieved from https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en

Tebeau, M. (2016). Engaging the Materiality of the Archive in the Digital Age. Collections, 12(4), 475–487.
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Turkel, W. Intervention: Hacking history, from analogue to digital and back again. Journal of Theory and Practice, 15 (2), pp. 287-296.
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Watkins, R. D., Sellen, A., & Lindley, S. E. (2015). Digital collections and digital collecting practices. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 3423-3432).
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