iBook- DAM:AR in Action

DAM:AR is a project based on fostering a deeper engagement between the visitors of the Denver Art Museum and the various pieces and collections of the museum. To do so, different “Frames” have been created, focusing on differing aspects of art, to cause users consider pieces in ways they had perhaps not considered before. These Frames include “Triggers”— prompting questions— that link to forums for users to share their views and converse with other users about pieces (the Triggers are all specific to each piece), “Context Augmentations” which aid in building the users understanding of the different aspects of the piece being viewed, and “Leads” which intend to push the user to explore other pieces of art within the museum that are related to the one immediately before them. Through the combination of all of these facets of experience into a single, combined, and streamlined place, DAM:AR intends to be an enhancement for the museum for all visitors.

Truly the backbone of individual and social engagement, the Triggers included in the Frames are the initial means of engagement presented to museum visitors using DAM:AR. Each Trigger is a specially crafted question, meant to push the user to view the work of art immediately in front of them in a more complex way. For the prototype, the Triggers of each of the Frames focused on a single aspect of the art, be it medium, an emotional or personal connection, the period of the work, the artist themselves, the technique or style of the work, or the subject of the work. In a fully realized, ideal, project, each of these aspects would be brought together in a single frame, with the user able to pick and choose which aspect they wanted to explore. The triggers link to a forum (currently without moderation for prototype purposes, but could easily have moderation procedures implemented), wherein users can respond to the question, read and comment on responses from other visitors, and carry on conversations about the piece. One of the concerns in the creation of DAM:AR was the ability for users to take parts of the in-museum experience out into their outside lives. The Trigger forums of DAM:AR allow for users to continuously interact around the piece, and encourage repeat visits to gain new insights.

Following the Triggers are the Context Augmentations of the immediate piece. These Augmentations may take several forms, be it a link to a biography of the artist (Artist-centric Frames), a history of the time period (Period-centric Frames), or an examination of the piece in regards to its composition (Style-centric Frames). The power of these Augmentations comes in the extremely broad area they are capable of covering. Even within each focus level, the Augmentations broaden the context of each piece, allowing visitors to truly find something they wish to sink their teeth into and explore on their own. The Context Augmentations are, in this way, not intended to be the end-all-beat-all space for new content. Rather, they are intended to give the user new ideas and concepts to self-explore, again an attempt to bring the museum experience out of the physical confines of the museum.

Inside the museum itself, though, DAM:AR aims to aid in directing users to pieces that pique their interest, based on aspects of the immediate piece that they were intrigued by. These are the Links included at the end of the carousels. These are curated selections that point museum visitors to different places and contexts within the museum, in an attempt to scale down the daunting task of navigating the Denver Art Museum. The DAM has such a wide and varied amount of pieces, that moving from one to another, or simply choosing what works one wants to experience on a given day at the museum is, at times, nearly impossible. DAM:AR’s Leads work to make these choices easier.

Of course, the project is currently limited by what Layar is capable of performing. In a ground-up construction of DAM:AR, users would be able to choose the type of engagement for each immediate piece, rather than having one prescribed for them, as the prototype does. Even with Layar, though, the use of specified icons (as exemplified throughout the book) for each type of engagement is a workaround to this problem. Allowing users to choose the kind of experience they wish to have is integral to not only the idealized version of DAM:AR, but also the Denver Art Museums own mission and goals. Still, even in its prototype phase, DAM:AR offers a wide range of user engagement possibilities for the museum, and is a new media platform to allow the DAM to connect more with its users, and bringing something new and interesting to each visit.

iBook Report – Post Decision Concepts

After discussing the museum AR opportunities with Lindsey Housel, we saw possibility in developing audience engagement.  We want visitors of the museum to leave having a deeper understanding of the art and the artist.  We want visitors to have a participatory experience with user driven concepts.

 

While visiting the space, one of the first things we noticed was the vast size of the museum.  Its large size is a both a hindrance and a benefit.   The size allows the museum to have many different pieces of art in it, which makes it a wonderful cultural institution to have available in Denver.  The abundance of art in one spot is a hindrance because a visitor would have to be there all day long to truly enjoy the entirety of what the museum has to offer.  The way that we decided to avoid these problems is to create a self-guided experience that did not rely on visiting the entire museum.

 

Our self-guided experience, DAM:AR, is designed for a user to find a piece and think deeper about it.  Rather than simply looking at one piece and moving on, we want users to have the ability to think deeply about the piece itself, the artist, the medium used, the technique used, the subject of the piece, and personal and emotional connections to the piece.  This deeper thinking about the piece changes the visitors experience from rushed due to the size of the museum and the abundance of pieces of art to allowing the visitor to have a deeper connection with and deeper thinking about each piece.

 

Each of our frames has a similar layout to keep each individual contribution to the prototype consistent.  The most important part of our frames is the prompt questions that initiate deeper thinking about the piece.  We implemented 2-3 triggers for each frame to allow for deeper thinking and have a variety of prompts that may appeal to different people and allow users to think about different aspects of the piece.  We also implemented 1-2 pieces of contextual augmentation that allows users to see relevant information about the piece, artists, or another aspect of the piece.  We implemented 1-2 leads that allow users to see different pieces in the museum that may appeal to them for different reasons.  Lastly, we added paths for discourse that allow users to connect via Facebook, Twitter, and have any questions answered.  Another important part of each frame is its connection to a forum that allows users to answer prompts on an online forum.  Our group wanted users to have the ability to connect over the Internet to other visitors in an online forum.

 

One of the initial challenges our group ran into was deciding how to have visitors connect with a piece.  Art speaks to people for different reasons.  What may resonate with one person could be very different for another.  We wanted to have subjects that spoke to all sorts of people for different reasons, so we came up with six topics to try to speak to people with.  The topics are: medium, emotion/personal connections, period, artist, technique, and subject.  Rather than having each piece touch on each topic, we decided that assigning one topic to each group member would enable our audience see each topic fully in action.  If implemented, we would have a trigger that touches on each separate topic to allow a variety of users to have the chance to create a personal connection to one of the triggers.

 

I may elaborate more if needed, but this is it for now.

Technique – Elaine de Kooning’s “Bullfight”

Triggers:

1. Do the energetic brushstrokes and frenetic application of paint suggest a bullfight to you? What other possibilities do you see?

2. Elaine once said that “a painting . . . is primarily a verb, not a noun, an event first and only secondarily an image.” Does this painting reflect that statement?

 

Contextual augmentation:

1. Elaine saw her first bullfight in 1958 in Ciudad Juarez, which inspired a series of bullfight paintings. Here’s another example of her work from that series.

(Image source: https://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/nycool/7edekooning.html)

 

2. In 1962 Elaine was commissioned to paint John F. Kennedy’s portrait. After JFK’s death in 1964, she completely stopped painting for over a year. Here are a few examples from that series.

(Image source: http://www.artaccordingtocary.blogspot.com/2013/05/elaine-de-koonings-portraits-of.html)

(Contextual info source: http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artists/bios/753)

 

Leads:

1. Visit Theodore Waddell’s “Motherwell’s Angus” for a completely opposite representation of cattle. (maybe it’s how I phrased it, but this lead seems really silly to me. I’m definitely open to changes here, haha)

 

2. Visit Brad Kahlhamer’s “Eagle Claws” in the Modern/Contemporary gallery if you enjoy Elaine’s painterly, impasto technique.

 

Personal / Emotional Connections to Art

Norman Rockwell’s “The Stagecoach”

Main Background Image: “The Stagecoach” by Norman Rockwell

 

Trigger 1: Norman Rockwell is best known for his everyday life scenarios in “The Saturday Evening Post” Magazine. How does his painting “The Stagecoach” align with your recollections and feeling of him and his work? What makes this painting different from his other works?

 

Trigger 2: This painting is an exemplary representation of the American West. How does Norman Rockwell’s depiction fit your ideas of the American West? How do they differ?

 

Contextual Information 1: Norman Rockwell painted “The Stagecoach” as a promotion for the 1966 remake of John Ford’s film “Stagecoach.” The film was Rockwell’s first and only appearance as an actor in a Hollywood film. Rockwell played poker player “Busted Flush.”

 

Contextual Information 2: Norman Rockwell painted “The Stagecoach” to depict the journey to Cheyenne, Wyoming. He admittedly had a hard time depicting the horses realistically. He wrote, “It was a tough job for me because I am no an expert on horses.”

 

Alternate Contextual Information 1: Despite “Stagecoach” being his first and only film, Norman Rockwell wanted to be in the movie business. In an interview with Westchester County Fair in 1928, he said, “If I were not an artists, I’d like to be a surgeon or a movie director, the later, particularly. There is a chance to produce beautiful and artistic scenes that the public enjoy and that are as lasting as a beautiful picture.”

 

Howard Post’s “Ranch Near Rocky Ridge”

 

Next Steps 1: Enjoy the scenery in Rockwell’s piece? Visit Howard Post’s “Ranch Near Rocky Ridge”

 

James Bama’s “Young Plains Indian”

 

Next Steps 2: Enjoy the characters in Rockwell’s piece? Visit James Bama’s “Young Plains Indian”

“Orion” Deborah Butterfield, 1988, Painted steel

 

 

 

Trigger 1

The horse’s muzzle and jaw are made from a car fender. Do you like the way she used the medium to compare an out-of-date mode of transportation (horse) to the current one (vehicle)? Is the comparison a positive one?

Trigger 2

Close your eyes and imagine a horse running. What aspects of the piece support your mental image? What aspects are in conflict?

Trigger 3

How does the use of metal support our perception of a horse? How does it oppose it?

Contextual Augmentation 1

“Redhead” 2005. Welded found steel.

A similar piece by Deborah. How do the two differ? Which do you prefer?

Contextual Augmentation 2

“My work is not so overtly about movement. My horses’ gestures are really quite quiet, because real horses move so much better than I could pretend to make things move. For the pieces I make, the gesture is really more within the body, it’s like an internalized gesture, which is more about the content, the state of mind or of being at a given instant. And so it’s more like a painting…the gesture and the movement is all pretty much contained within the body.”

Lead 1

To compare to horses in movement, see Frank Mechau’s “Wild Horses”.
Walk towards the bridge connection to the North Building. Look to your left before the doors.

Lead 2

To compare a piece from across time and place, see Guardian Lion from Thailand.
In the North Building, Fifth Floor.

The Potentials for Augmented Reality in the Museum

How are museums experimenting with AR?

Guided Tours

The Warhol Museum created an augmented reality experience in Layar, wherein users are taken on a tour of the “locations pivotal in Andy Warhol’s life and work overlayed on real-time images from your device’s camera” (http://www.warhol.org/connect/mobile/)

 

One of the forerunners in museum augmented reality is the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In their “ARTOUR” app, viewers can explore digital content in their museum through virtually projecting works, following digital tours, and a virtual exhibition by artist Jan Rothuizen, as well as a guided tour of design in the city of Amsterdam by designer Timo de Rijk. (http://www.stedelijk.nl/en/artours/artours-app)

 

Gaming

The British Museum developed an AR game for kids called A Gift for Athena. The app encourages children to engage with the Greek sculptures in their Parthenon gallery through a scavenger hunt wherein users match shapes in the app to corresponding sculptures, as well as a completing visual puzzles along the way. (https://econsultancy.com/blog/63929-the-british-museum-five-lessons-in-augmented-reality#i.kh02enrh1dq5z5)

 

Digital Content in Art

In February of this year, the Smithsonian experimented with an augmented reality piece for Google Glass by artist David Datuna. The piece, “Portrait of America” consists of an American flag assembled out of sunglasses, that, when viewed through Glass, overlays digital content relating to American history on the piece. (http://hyperallergic.com/108565/smithsonian-brings-google-glass-to-the-museum/)

 

Unauthorized Digital Content

In October of 2010, artists Sander Veenhof and Mark Skwarek staged an unauthorized augmented reality “invasion” in which the artists created location-specific digital art content to populate the (http://www.sndrv.nl/moma/)

 

Novelty, Distraction, or Didactic Tool?

There is a lot of potential for augmented reality in the setting of museums; research on the subject has found that “augmented reality technology has a positive impact on the motivation of middle-school students” (Di Serio et al, 2011) and the use of augmented reality guides in an art museum setting “effectively enhanced visitors’ learning effectiveness, promoted their flow experience, and extended the amount of time the visitors spent focusing on the paintings” (Chang et al, 2013). It appears that a thoughtful, well-designed augmented reality experience can in fact improve the museum-going experience.

 

Van Gogh in AR: an example of the madness

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

 

A Starry Night

 

A Starry Night is a great work of art by Vincent Van Gogh that sparks a lot of analytical debate. A Starry Night is one of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings and my personal favorite.The use of the different blues along with the vibrant golden yellows and popping white create a palate which reminds me of a warm, starry, summer night. Van Gogh painted this painting from the memories he had of looking out his sanatorium window during the day. Van Gogh wrote to his Emile Bernard about the nature of the painting and whether he could achieve the beautiful aspects of the scenery that many of the impressionists painters were able to capture. Van Gogh says this to Emile Bernard, “The imagination is certainly a faculty which we must develop and it alone can bring us to creation of a more exalting and consoling nature … A star-spangled sky, for instance, that’s a thing I would like to try to do … But how can I manage unless I make up my mind to work … from imagination?” The fact Vincent was able to complete such a beautiful painting within the confines of an asylum is astounding and highlights the mad genius that made Vincent Van Gogh one of the greatest painters of all time.

Trigger 1: Van Gogh painted the stars in swirls and moving lines, why did he do this instead of representing the stars as fixed points?

Trigger 2: Where do you think Vincent Van Gohg was when he painted this?

Trigger 3: Why do you think Vincent chose to paint A Starry Night?

Context 1: In a letter written to Émile Bernard in April 1888, Van Gogh expressed his desire to paint the night sky, and questioned whether he could achieve his intention by painting from nature as the Impressionists did:

The imagination is certainly a faculty which we must develop and it alone can bring us to creation of a more exalting and consoling nature … A star-spangled sky, for instance, that’s a thing I would like to try to do … But how can I manage unless I make up my mind to work … from imagination?

Context 2: The Starry Night (Dutch: De sterrennacht) is a painting by the Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view outside of his sanatorium room window at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (located in southern France) at night, although it was painted from memory during the day.

Leads: Please Check Out  Starry Night Over the Rhone. Working by night under a gas lamp, Van Gogh painted this work directly from nature

A Third Working Example

For my working example, I chose to focus on photography. I chose Gerd Ludwig as the artist because I think that his attention to detail and photographs of everyday objects and moments speaks to a wide range of people. The main photo I chose to showcase is of a woman helping a young boy get dressed in a suit. I thought that this photo speaks to the power of photographing everyday moments.

My first trigger question is: “A photographers job is to document life. Why does capturing moments attract our attention so well? What about this piece attracts your attention?”

 

The next lead is a photo of a woman in a car, another example of photographing an everyday moment and making it special.

The second lead is a photo of a man cutting into a piece of meat and a child crying.   This is an emotionally charged photograph that speaks to the artist’s attention to detail.

My last slide is a second trigger that reads: “Gerd Ludwig captures complex moments. What are some moments that have captured your attention? Why did they?”

 

I really tried to use this example page to really learn how to use the technology and practice it. In the final example, I will create multiple triggers, contextual information pages, and leads.

 

Another Working Example

“The Melody Haunts My Reverie” Roy Lichtenstein, 1965

 

I’ll admit, I’m a Lichtenstein fanboy, so my choice for a test frame was easily made. His work is extremely vibrant and, personally, is evocative of comics (an obsession of mine), due to his use of Ben-Day dots; the first time I saw a Lichtenstein work, I fell in love.

The piece itself, The Melody Haunts My Reverie presents the subject of the beautiful woman singing the jazz song “Stardust” (1927), her seeming distraught nature at contrast with the pop-y composition of the print.

Trigger 1:  Roy Lichtenstein’s Pop Art work drew on comic books, a largely popular medium in the Sixties. What might he draw on today?

Trigger 2:  The Sixties were a big time for visual art, music and culture. What artists from the Sixties are your favorites?

Context 1:  An image of Roy, himself, linking to his Wikipedia page.

Context 2:  An image of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych, linking to the Wikipedia page for Pop Art

Lead 1:  Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl

Lead 2:  An image of Action Comics #1 (Superman’s first appearance), with a link to an online text on the history of comic books

 

A Working Example

The Potato Eaters, Vincent Van Gogh, 1885

I chose this image because I’ve always been a big fan of Van Gogh and because this is one of his most fascinating paintings to me. A master of color, Van Gogh’s choice of a lack of color is obviously significant. It’s significant because it’s honest. And looking closely at this painting, you can see the honesty in his depiction of the family’s toil and desperation, but you also see the family’s connection and companionship. It’s in their eyes and actions. Also, my World History professor in high school used to call serfs and peasants “rock suckers” (i.e., they had nothing to eat, so they had to suck on rocks) and the fact that this painting is titled “The Potato Eaters” speaks to this weird adolescent experience.

Trigger 1 – What elements of this portrait are similar to your family eating dinner? What elements feel out of place?

Trigger 2 – The title and colors in the painting give an impression of drab, coarse individuals struggling to survive. What do you see in the faces? In their actions? Do their faces support the impression given by the title and color?

Trigger 3 – During his lifetime, Van Gogh considered this one of his most successful paintings. Based on your experience with Van Gogh’s work, do you agree?

Context 1 – Van Gogh: “You see, I really have wanted to make it so that people get the idea that these folk, who are eating their potatoes by the light of their little lamp, have tilled the earth themselves with these hands they are putting in the dish, and so it speaks of manual labor and — that they have thus honestly earned their food. I wanted it to give the idea of a wholly different way of life from ours — civilized people. So I certainly don’t want everyone just to admire it or approve of it without knowing why.” (Putting this into Layar, I’m starting to realize big blocks of text might not be an option. I think I’ll play around with file format, etc to see if this works).

Context 2 – Van Gogh also created a lithograph of the same painting, how does this change your impression?

Leads – See Van Gogh’s “The Cottage,” 1855 to see the exterior of the cottage this painting takes place in.