One of my main goals with the Chat.The Mng project is to find a way to maximize the efficiency of iBeacon technology, in a way that can enhance the gallery visitors’ viewing experience beyond the gallery space. At the same time, I aim to learn more about the curatorial process of shows like Witness.
During my time at New Media Gallery, I aim to improve my research skills, particularly in learning more about the ways in which galleries engage with their visitors. Bearing in mind that this process will consist of interaction between humans and technologies, I will learn to test different methods of interacting and evaluate them to see which works best. At the end of the process, I hope to gain an increased understanding of the curatorial process, particularly with new media artwork, as well as the way in which technology can make our gallery viewing experience more interactive.
In order to attain my goals, I will need excellent research skills, as well as the ability to continuously re-evaluate and readjust in the process. These are particularly important in the prototyping period when I conduct user-centered research and use the insight gathered from the data to revise my method of interaction with the viewer.
To achieve these goals, I will first create a survey in order to find out what kind of experience people look for when they visit an exhibition, particularly with ones that display new media works like Witness. Do they want some kind of technology to guide them along their way? Would this intervention take place before, during, or after the main exhibition? This survey is important because many people believe that technology, such as a smartphone, could interfere with the relationship between an artwork and the viewer. Most often, artists whose works are being shown would not like this interference either, since they’d prefer having their works installed and viewed in a certain way.
After the survey process, I plan to reach out to different professionals whose careers have a connection with the theme of the exhibition, in order to give the audience an insight into the exhibition from different perspectives. For instance, the work Surface Tension by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer relates to the theme of science, particularly optometry. As such, I might contact an optometrist and ask for a short interview to find out their opinion on the role of the eyes in shaping our perception of the world. Alternatively, I could reach out to an artist whose works revolve around the theme of the eyes and discuss their connection to it.
Finally, I will insert these data into the iBeacons and experiment to see how they can best connect to the visitors’ personal device. This process will require technical support from Neartuit- the startup that provided the iBeacons for New Media Gallery. At this point, many new challenges might arise but I will actively communicate with different groups of people to overcome them. On the last day of the project, I will provide a presentation to showcase my progress and the final outcome. I look forward to this presentation, as it will receive many constructive criticisms that would be highly valuable to me.
[IMPORTANT DATES]
Oct.6- First meeting
Oct.20- Technical demonstration (using iBeacons) given by Judy (CEO of Neartuit)
Oct.27- Project research- refine different groups of professionals to be included in the program
Nov. 3- Program research- show the first set of prototype of the program interface
A date TBD between Nov. 4th and 16th – Technical run through and set up the stage
Nov. 17- Analyze the data collected from the project and make adjustments accordingly
Dec. 1- Final presentation of program
*Schedule subject to change*