During my time managing the access and outreach element of the Art in Mind exhibition project, I have been thinking about how visitors might have mindful engagement with University collections.
As part of our programme we had several workshops at UCreate Studio with MakerSpace Manager Mike Boyd, who showed us Mozilla Hubs, an open-source digital platform where you create 3D rooms for people to join. He mentioned that ECA students had used this platform to create a digital degree show during lockdown, which inspired me to attempt to create a digital exhibition space for Art in Mind. This platform was particularly appealing because you can visit the 3D rooms using VR, so I initially wanted to create a virtual display that visitors could walk around using cardboard VR headsets available at UCreate. This digital exhibit could create a more immersive visitor experience as well as raising awareness for UCreate on campus.
The “Museum of the Fossilised Internet” Room available to visit on Mozilla Hubs. Created by the Mozilla Hubs team themselves, this digital museum exhibition was designed to spark a conversation about the impact internet use has on global carbon emissions. I was struck by the overall message of this museum, but also by the enjoyment that I had using my keyboard to navigate the digital museum space.
Additionally, I was inspired by the Angelica Mesiti exhibition that was held in Talbot Rice Gallery. The mesmerising way that the exhibition used light and sound could be emulated digitally using platforms like Mozilla Hubs.
A photograph of In The Round, an exhibition by the artist Angela Mesiti on display at Talbot Rice Gallery from October 2021 – March 2022. I was interested in this exhibition due to the calming but bold light displays along with sound installations. Photograph courtesy of Talbot Rice Gallery and available on their official website.
However, there were challenges involved in using Mozilla Hubs. The platform is unclear on whether they legally own items that you upload onto 3D rooms, which creates complications for institutions like the Centre for Research Collections who has copyright guidelines that vary from item to item. Additionally, you can chat with other people in these spaces via text or audio. While this could have been an opportunity to create a community among our visitors, there is the risk of someone trolling in the space. Regular moderation would therefore be required, which is something that we were unable to do given the limited resources of this project. As such, I ended up not using this platform to create a digital resource.
Nevertheless, exploring the capabilities of a digital platform like Mozilla Hubs was a very useful learning experience for me, it highlighted the legal/logistical issues that you have to consider when creating heritage experiences on free, open-source digital platforms.
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