MCN 2026

In our museum, traditional wall interpretation provides the vital foundation of our guests’ experience. However, when planning our digital interpretation, our team is always asking: What can digital do that is different? This session explores creating “MTMDs” (Magical, Tactile Media Devices)—physical objects with digital content that guests interact with in ways that feel anything but digital. By focusing on what digital does best—recreating sensory "time and place"—we can provide a richer, more multi-dimensional experience.




Phase I: More Than Voiceover (William Gropper Exhibition)

Our exploration began by moving beyond the lecture-style audio tour. For an exhibition on William Gropper, we developed a "contextual soundscape" to sit alongside the curatorial text. By re-recording period-accurate union songs and dramatic re-enactments of Gropper’s appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee, we provided the emotional high stakes of the period, allowing visitors to hear the history they were reading about.

Phase II: The Tactile Bridge (The Mucha Record Player)

We expanded this approach for our exhibition Timeless Mucha by introducing a custom hi-fi record player cabinet powered by RFID technology. This device allowed guests to listen to the music of albums whose cover art was inspired by Alphonse Mucha’s work. By using familiar, tactile hardware, we reduced placed the digital tech in the background, and put the guests tactile experience in the foreground. 

Phase III: Immersive Simulation (The Miró TV Time Capsule)

Our most recent project, a glowing 1950s television set for Miró and the United States, represents the synthesis of these strategies. To provide a unique experience of the 1940s–60s, we engaged a woodworker to build a period-accurate cabinet that matched the original furniture of our museum. On this TV, each channel represents a year Miró visited the U.S., allowing guests to "channel surf" through collages of cultural touchpoints like the Space Race and the Civil Rights Movement. Accompanied by a 1950s-style “TV Guide” handout, the interactive was placed in our Welcome Gallery to serve as an inflection point, drawing guests into the exhibition narrative the moment they enter the building.




Conclusion: Throwing Your Hat Over the Wall

Innovation in museum tech often requires "throwing your hat over a wall" that is too high to climb—committing to a project before you fully know how to execute it. These projects involved a multitude of firsts for our department and institution from programming Arduino boards to coding in Python and using Touch Designer. We argue that the most impactful museum experiences come from making mistakes and "building rockets to see if they explode". By diversifying the modes of interpretation we create an inclusive environment that recognizes the unique strengths of both the written word and the sensory interactive.