A Virtual Reality Museum to Reinforce the Interpretation of Contemporary Art and Increase the Educational Value of User Experience

Abstract

The cultural heritage sector increasingly integrates augmented and virtual reality (VR) solutions to meet dissemination and interpretation needs for its collections. As research in the field grows, the required entertainment and learning impacts of such applications are rising. This study presents a VR museum that aims to facilitate an understanding of cultural heritage. More specifically, an exhibition was designed, curated and developed in a VR environment based on a framework that encourages the public’s interaction with the artworks and experiential learning through activities that utilize VR functionalities in a meaningful way. This framework was applied in a contemporary art museum where the description of artistic concepts is not always obvious to the general public due to the abstract forms of the artworks or the particularities of different artistic movements. This paper focuses on the application development and three user experience evaluations (museum experts, technical experts and general audience). The results were positive regarding the perceived sense of control, usability and the feelings of the user, including their sense of entertainment. Additionally, the participants valued the educational value of the developed activity types and their usefulness. Moreover, the users were interested in exploring the cultural heritage content available in the exhibition, and they would suggest the application to colleagues or friends.

Evaluating the Impact of XR on User Experience in the Tomato Industrial Museum “D. Nomikos”

“…During the design phase of the evaluation process, we surveyed assessment methods in the fields of XR-based experiences ranging from XR-specific and museum-related methods to more generic assessment approaches. One example of a generic method that, nevertheless, is used for XR museum experience evaluations [9,15] is the System Usability Scale/SUS [21], not to be confused with the Slater-Usoh-Steed Questionnaire (whose acronym is also SUS) and was developed by Usoh et al [22]; both approaches are presented below in this section. Moreover, we surveyed XR-specific UX questionnaires that nevertheless gravitated towards immersive or fully immersive experiences; hence, they were deemed incongruent with the scope of the specific evaluation.…”

“…Moreover, another pertinent study [9] that relates to a Contemporary Art Museum in Greece is relevant as it puts emphasis on the evaluation of the on-site XR application that complemented the exhibits. More broadly, the evaluation of XR-related museum experience, whether in an art gallery or different areas of cultural heritage, has been the focus of several studies that, in turn, have been comprehensively surveyed in publications such as the articles of Kabassi [10], which includes a detailed discussion of criteria and methods used in evaluation studies, and Hammady et al [11].…”

“…More specifically, in the museum visitor UX study [9] mentioned above, questionnaires were handed to three categories of participants (visitors/general audience, as well as museum and technical experts), investigating usability issues as well as the overall satisfaction of the participants. The assessment was positive regarding the aspects examined, i.e., usability, users' overall satisfaction, and the degree to which the application managed to enhance the participants' interest in the (contemporary art) exhibits.…”

The Methodology of Virtualizing Sculptures and Drawings: A Case Study of the Virtual Depot of the Gallery of Matica Srpska

“…As research in the field grows, the required entertainment and learning impacts of such applications are rising. Tsita et al [20] present a VR museum that aims to facilitate an understanding of cultural heritage. The utilization of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in cultural heritage promotion applications has proven to be effective in enhancing visitors' experiences, engaging existing audiences, and attracting new ones [21,22].…”