Back The project Engagement, led by UPF, proposes new narratives and new access to the Roman art collection of the National Art Museum of Catalonia

The project Engagement, led by UPF, proposes new narratives and new access to the Roman art collection of the National Art Museum of Catalonia

The virtual tour can be taken before or after the in-person visit, which includes four different itineraries, either to prepare it or to go into greater depth on certain aspects. Engagement is a pilot test, within the RIS3CAT community that seeks to transform museums, by creating a unique user experience and establishing a circular model.

17.05.2022

Imatge inicial

In the framework of the project Engagement, led by Pompeu Fabra University, you can now get access to virtual and in-person tours of the collection of Roman art at the National Art Museum of Catalonia. The virtual visits, that include audio descriptions and geolocation, are designed as a supplement to in-person visits.

The recent launch of the in-person model, together with the virtual model, means opening up to the public the pilot test of project Engagement, in the framework of the RIS3CAT Media community, which seeks the participation by users to help transform museums and create links of interaction and commitment between users and museums.

The principal investigator of the global Engagement project is Jordi Balló, director of the UPF Department of Communication. In addition to leadership by UPF, the project involves the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Tàpies Foundation, the firms Indissoluble and Mobile Media Content, and the EURECAT research centre, with co-funding by ACCIÓ.

Four different personal narrators that can be completed with the virtual visit

Engagement offers users a new vision of the Roman art collection of the National Art Museum of Catalonia by means of four in-person itineraries, four different proposals in response to different profiles, with the discovery of contents that best suit visitors’ preferences. They are: a) first visit for non-experts, b) family, with children, c) pop culture, and d) curated by Victoria Cirlot, the great expert in medieval art, full professor of Humanities at UPF.

To improve this experience, visitors can also access the virtual tour, which does not replace but rather complements the in-person visit. This can be done before the in-person visit, to thoroughly prepare it, or after, to go into greater depth in the areas that have most caught the visitor’s attention.

Thus, thanks to the flow of information generated between the users and the museum, real engagement is achieved that creates a circular bond of relations, interaction and commitment between the institution and the visitors.

How was it designed and what does the virtual tour include?

The virtual tour has been devised after working on the texts of the works and the selection of points of interest that provide most information. It also includes other elements, such as easy-read audios, adapted for persons with transient (immigration, late introduction to reading, under-schooling...) or permanent reading difficulties (learning disorders, functional diversity, senility, etc.).

Other aspects included in the virtual tour are a selection of musical pieces created for the project “Les veus del romànic” (The voices of the Roman), a collaboration between the National Art Museum of Catalonia and the Catalonia College of Music; customized tag navigation; the location on Google Maps of the churches where the works on display come from; and a virtualization of Saint Clement of Tahull.

The in-person visit includes the personal narrators and also interactive tables to help better understand the context of the works, in various aspects for consideration: restoration, iconography, pictorial techniques and the architecture of the spaces, to try to understand the Roman from new, contemporary viewpoints.

Engagement, a paradigm shift in how cultural spaces relate to their visitors

Project Engagement proposes a paradigm shift in how cultural spaces relate to their visitors and deploys the notion of expanded museum, understood as a strategy based on the singularization and the customization the visitor experience, the multiplication of narratives and the overflowing the spatial and temporal limits of the museum, creating an ecosystem of digital contents at their disposal. 

According to Jordi Balló, “Engagement seeks to create a unique user experience and establish a circular model that connects virtual visits, in-person visits, the collection of data on each person’s choices, and this engagement that aims for the relationship between museum and citizen to be continuous, not sporadic”.

Balló highlights that Engagement is a pilot test, but aims to become established: “It is an innovative model that signifies a major step forward and a benchmark for the partner entities, businesses and institutions, including our University, with the desire that it might go on from being a pilot test to become definitively implemented”.

Engagement belongs to the RIS3CAT Media community, coordinated by EURECAT, a group of companies and stakeholders in R&D&I in the cultural and creative industries of Catalonia, working to promote and enhance research and innovation strategies for the country’s smart specialization.

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