Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam State Museum

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Description

Event:

n.a.

Target group:

• Contemporary national and international audience

Purposes:

• Connecting people with art and history • Renovation through digital strategy: visitor engagement and online access policy

European initiative reference:

n.a.

Info

Netherlands

Space Needed: Big

Activity:

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands, located in Amsterdam, which offers a representative overview of Dutch art and history from the Middle Ages onwards, and of major aspects of European and Asian art. In addition, the museum holds several exhibitions a year with works from its own collection and (inter)national loans.

Contact

tel.: +31 (0) 20 6747 000 e-mail: info@rijkmuseum.nl

Website

Strengths

A wider selection of products
Engagement of new audiences
International relevance of the museum and the city

Weaknesses

High skills required for the implementation and the management of digital tools
Costs for the implementation of digital solutions
Possible increase in the digital divide in the population with low digital literacy

Digital Solutions

Rijksmuseum APP
Free multimedia tours
Online collection (rijksstudio- since 2012)
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Machine-learning technology
Ultra-high-resolution photo and video cameras

Methodology

Once the museum app has been developed, one can proceed with the creation of the guided tours and their upload into the app. Digitised works in the restoration process can also be uploaded to the app.
The museum organises the restoration of the works in a way that is accessible to the public, who can then witness the process in an interactive and engaging way.

Resources needed and start-up costs

Programming of the app: from 20.000 euros
Ultra-high-resolution photo and video cameras: from 8.000 euros

Possible low cost solution

You can develop apps yourself using free apps such as GoodBarber. No programming skills are required.
To realise a low-cost digital collection, you can also consider photographing the paintings with cheaper equipment, even with simple cameras. Although the resolution of the photos would be significantly lower, you can make the collection more appealing by taking advantage of free platforms such as StoryMapJS that allow you to add interactive content to a photo.

Transferable innovative principles and methods

1. A digital personalised tour

The free Rijksmuseum App allows visitors to deepen and extend their museum experience. In particular, it allows to:

buy tickets
take free multimedia tours
scroll through the online collection
find the personal way through the museum
create your own route

Create your own route: just tap on the works the visitor want to see in the museum. The app maps out the ideal route and directs the visitor from one object to the next. It is like a Spotify playlist for art.

Source: https://northernlight.nl/project/rijksmuseum-app-2/

The implementation of the navigation tool and the interactive floor allows to realize all the above initiatives.

The Rijksmuseum App is an audio-visual tool. It is also called “the magic window” because it transforms a smartphone into a magnifying glass, set of binoculars, time machine, infrared scanner, sketchpad or magic wand.

2. Interactive restoration

The Rijksmuseum also supervised the restoration of the famous work “The Night Watch” in an interactive and engaging way. The restoration operation consists of imaging techniques - high-resolution photographs and highly advanced computer analysis - thanks to which a very detailed picture of the painting can be drawn.

Source: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/stories/operation-night-watch/

The scans and photographs that have been made of every square millimetre of the painting are being stored and processed using artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology. This technology gives to the public the opportunity to follow the restoration process live, and to zoom in on every detail of “The Night Watch”.