Museum of Ethnography case

Museum of Ethnography

Introduction

This project emerged as a visionary collaboration between the Museum of Ethnography and Back&Rosta, aiming to revolutionize the museum’s traditional visitor experience. It focused on leveraging innovative technology to co-create an engaging and interactive learning journey for museum visitors. The project introduced the Magic Wall, as a dynamic and innovative tool with a promise to reshape the way visitors connect with the museum's heritage.

The Museum of Ethnography moved to its new, impressive building in 2022, where the use of innovative tools was a crucial consideration for both the museum's architects and its leadership. The concept of using the Magic Wall seamlessly integrated into this vision.

At the opening of the new building, a so-called Meta Space was created, which is not only an educational hub but also a community space inside the museum.

Three Magic Walls were installed in the Meta Space.

Challenges

Traditional Museums: The Museum of Ethnography, like many other cultural institutions, faced the challenge of engaging a modern audience accustomed to interactive digital experiences. The challenge was to make the museum more appealing and relevant to contemporary visitors.

Enriching Learning: Enhancing the educational value of museum visits posed a challenge. While the museum offered exhibits of original objects and expert explanations, the goal was to provide a deeper and more immersive learning experience.

Data-Driven Adaptation: The museum sought to understand its visitors better, tailoring its programs and exhibitions to their preferences and needs. However, collecting detailed visitor data was a challenge.

Product Description

In co-creation with the museum’s management and staff members, Back&Rosta deployed three separate Magic Wall installations at the Meta Space in the Museum, each custom-made to a different size:

7-displays (the overall wall size is: 2,1 m (height) x 4,4 m (width) ):

The largest Magic Wall was designed to serve at least two purposes: allowing larger crowds to interact with the device, and hosting temporarily digital exhibitions in the most immersive ways. While the Magic Wall is the most modern educational tool in Hungarian museums, thanks to the versatility of the product, it also enables the institution to host digital exhibitions. Our innovative tool is most commonly used for individual searches, thus providing spectacular digital learning and discovery experiences.

5-display (the overall wall size is: 2,1 m (height) x 3,5 m (width)):

The medium-sized Magic Wall is an exceptional tool that elevates the experience of exhibitions to a whole new level. The accompanying content for temporary exhibitions is often diverse and ever-changing, and through this wall, visitors get a chance to get closer to exhibited artifacts than ever before. This remarkable technology allows children to participate in the experience as well, as they can try out various games related to the theme of the exhibition, such as puzzles and memory games. With the help of the Magic Wall, exhibitions are not just about observation but also become interactive and memorable experiences, allowing visitors to immerse themselves even deeper into the specific exhibition.

MiniWall/Mobile Wall (86-inch diagonal):

Beside everything the other two Magic Walls can do, the MiniWall is the Joly Joker of the museum. Due to its favorable size and easy mobility, this product can be used – literary – in every corner of the museum, thus spreading the digital innovative experience effectively. In the Museum, this Mobile Wall is mostly dedicated to school-groups. Direct educative sessions are organized frequently for students. Our innovative tool is most commonly used for individual research, thus providing spectacular digital learning and discovery experiences. Our smallest size of magical display can maximize the potential of all departments that deal with issues of presenting. PR- and marketing goals can be also fulfilled with our device thanks to its versatile capability on projecting images.

Main highlights of features

Interactive Engagement: The Magic Wall has the power to engage and involve visitors actively, encouraging participation and interaction.

Knowledge Transfer: It provides a platform for transferring knowledge in easy and organic ways, often through educative games, making learning an enjoyable and interactive process.

Exhibition Integration: The Magic Wall seamlessly integrates into the museum's environment, surrounded by the original objects, allowing visitors to access in-depth and detailed information about each exhibit.

Data Gathering/Collecting: Its statistical system enables the museum to collect detailed information, and important insights about visitors’ preferences, thus facilitating data-driven decision-making.

Group Sessions: The Magic Wall supports both individual and group sessions, encouraging collaborative learning and motivation among visitors.

Results

The project achieved several significant results:

Visitor Engagement: The Magic Wall succeeded in actively engaging visitors, making the museum visit more immersive, enjoyable, and memorable.

Enhanced Learning: Visitors reported a richer learning experience, with the Magic Wall facilitating the transfer of knowledge through interactive games.

Visitor Insights: The Magic Wall's statistical system provides valuable visitor data, helping the museum to better understand its audience and adapt its programs and exhibitions to meet their specific needs.

Increased Attendance: The project resulted in a notable increase in museum attendance, indicating its success in capturing visitor interest.

Educational Collaboration: Group activities supported by the Magic Wall significantly increased the popularity of the museum’s educational programs. Increased collaboration and mutual motivation among visitors is an ongoing success story in the museum.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our project at the Ethnography Museum exemplifies how innovative technology can bridge the gap between tradition and modernity in the cultural sphere. By actively involving visitors, enriching knowledge-transfers and generating a new audience-experience, the Magic Wall has transformed the museum from a traditional cultural entity into a dynamic and more attractive space for heritage exploration. The ultimate feature of interactivity is not only for improving presentation, but also a reliable platform for collecting valuable data from visitors in the institution.