Prototyping a new way for navigating and documenting museum visits
Sense of Wander is a product experiment about self-guidance through spaces like museums, parks and cities using instant photography and playing with unpredictability.
Role:
Graduate Student
Location:
New York
Date:
2021
Organization:
Parsons School of Design
01.
As part of our Superstudio at Parsons School of design, our team immersed for 3 weeks in four different museums in New York and Philadelphia to run multiple ethnographic observations about how different visitors engage with the artwork and navigate the space.
Etnographic Observation
02.
Key insight #1:
many visitors seem disoriented at the begining of the journey
As we entered every museum, one behavior often bubbled up: many visitors were constantly looking for directions. Museums already provide printed and digital maps, guides, screens, and other artifacts to facilitate the navigation of the space. People not necessarily know where they want to go. Could there be a space for alternative ways for wandering through the exhibitions?
03.
Key insight #2:
many visitors capture their visits through pictures.
Many visitors like to document their visit through selfies, pictures of the artwork, pictures of the museum, and pictures of other people.
04.
A question emerged
What if the very act of recording their experience could be also a more revealing and memorable way for engaging with the artwork and navigating the space? What if we address both the need for direction and the joy of recording what visitors found?
05.
The prototype
After sketching multiple approaches, we ended up repurposing an instant camera as a prompt generator. A device that could allow any visitor to record their visit but also to create an unexpected and surprising journey on-the-go.
We wrote multiple sequences of 10 navigation prompts and added each of them to a film cartridge. This way, whenever a visitor takes a picture with the camera, a new navigation prompt will be revealed on the back of the picture taken. As they move around, a fresh and hopefully meaningful way of interacting with the artwork will emerge.
06. Team
Kenichi Kawamura & Sebastián Rubio Merino
with the support of professor Killeen Hanson