MCG Museums+Tech 2026 Conference
→ Event official website
Call for Paper: 29 June 2026
Using our spaces for authentic interactions
Something that unites and affects all museums is place. Some museums are sited where they are to help tell the story of the place they are in, occupying the sites of former works or heritage buildings. Others are designed to tell our stories to the people in and around the place they are in, such as many of our cherished local museums. In doing so they often tell the stories of that community, and offer the chance to foster a sense of belonging and see our society reflected to us. This can often be vital in areas where the safe space of the museum place allows a break from the outside world, a chance to connect with each other. Our museums can act as spaces for interactions with the collections, society and each other.
Yet digital has vastly affected our sense of space, and naturally that means museums as well. In our lives we are frequently involved in communities no longer bounded by place: a quick look at where your Instagram friends actually are in the world is a good example. What does this mean for museums, both for themselves and the stories they tell? How has the intersection of digital into the museum space changed our interactions?
How does this affect ‘who’ the visitor is, their demographics and what a meaningful ‘museum visit’ or interaction is? Is there such a thing as a ‘digital only visitor’ and what weight does that carry for a museum? What about the museum itself, can this be truly removed from the physical space?
As that interaction between people and the museum reflects our digital era, what about authenticity? Screens are ubiquitous, do museums offer a break from staring at them? Can digital enhance the authenticity of the experience? Does the wealth of extra potential data available for an item on display enhance our connection with it? Where can we create new authentic connections? How are we pushing the boundaries of what an interaction is? Is it looking, touching, talking or something else?