research-article

Thresholds: Embedding Virtual Reality in the Museum

Authors:

Sarah Martindale,

Dimitrios Darzentas,

Mat CollishawAuthors Info & Claims

Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH), Volume 13, Issue 2

Article No.: 12, Pages 1 - 35

https://doi.org/10.1145/3369394

Published: 30 May 2020 Publication History

Abstract

We examine the experience of Thresholds, a virtual reality (VR) recreation of the world's first photographic exhibition, which has toured to multiple museums. Following the method of performance-led research in the wild, we provide an account of the artist's design rationale and the experiences of visitors as the work toured. We reveal how the overlaying and juxtaposing of virtual and physical spaces established a VR architecture that underpinned the extended user experience. Overlaying was used to layer a virtual model onto a corresponding physical set to deliver physical sensations of touch and movement alongside visual and audio stimuli. Juxtaposition was used to embed the VR installation within the surrounding gallery space at each host museum, dealing with the challenges of entering, exiting, spectating, and invigilating the experience. We propose that museum designers can use these techniques to deliver VR installations that are compelling but also scalable and tourable.

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Index Terms

Thresholds: Embedding Virtual Reality in the Museum
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction paradigms
      1. Mixed / augmented reality

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Published In

cover image Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage

Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage Volume 13, Issue 2

June 2020

172 pages

ISSN:1556-4673

EISSN:1556-4711

DOI:10.1145/3403613

Editor:
Franco Niccolucci
VAST-LAB at PIN, University of Florence, Italy

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 30 May 2020

Accepted: 01 October 2019

Revised: 01 September 2019

Received: 01 February 2019

Published in JOCCH Volume 13, Issue 2

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