The rapidly evolving nature of new and emerging technologies renders artworks made using such technologies a challenging category of objects to be handled by institutions. The MuseumArtTech project investigates how art made with immersive technologies – such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality(MR) – is acquired, exhibited and finally preserved by museums and art institutions.
There is a wide discussion and several initiatives focusing on best preservation practises for artworks that fall in the categories of New Media, Born-Digital and Time-Based artworks; there is also a number of museums and institutions that already host an array of such artworks in their collections. However, artworks made with emerging and immersive technologies such as VR, AR and MR are even more challenging due to their technological complexity and variability, as well as their often deliberate independence from institutional formats.
The project uses case studies in order to identify current institutional practices and understand the challenges museum professionals face when dealing with artworks that use emergent technologies. It also seeks to identify other initiatives and formats of exhibiting, acquiring and preserving such artworks while keeping in mind the concerns of their creators.
Research Team: Myrto Aristidou (research associate), Dr. Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert (CUT VSMS Lab coordinator/ Museum Lab RISE), Dr. Doros Polydorou and Dr. Marinos Koutsomichalis (CUT Media Arts and Design Lab) and Kleanthis Neocleous (Immersive Technologies for Intelligent and Creative Applications Group, RISE). This project is funded by the Research Promotions Foundation “Restart 2016-2020″ program.