This video proposal is a mock-up of what the spring 2007 interactive installation of Georgia Tech's contribution to the Future of the Museum: Louvre/Atlanta project might look like. The idea for the interaction was ultimately based on the secured space in entrance areas of the Global Learning Center and the outside courtyard. This installation is in conjunction with a three-year exhibition at the High Museum of rotating pieces from the Louvre and a lecture series at the High Museum addressing the topic "The Future of the Museum". In exploring this idea in a project studio class in the Digital Media Masters program in the LCC department at Tech lead by Sara Hornbacher and Kenneth Knospel, we asked ourselves questions like, "What part will digital media play in the Future of the Museum?”, "How is it already affecting the way we experience art and museums alike?" and "How can digital media enhance this experience?". Answers to these questions addressed topics from democracy and access to copyright and education.


A major difference between fine arts and digital technology is that the former strives to depict and capture light, and the latter, through technology such as LCD and plasma displays, strives to perfect the calibration and resolution of emitted light. In this proposal, I placed these digital displays looking out of the Global Learning Center entrance windows such as one would put things on display in a store front so that passers-bye can experience the displayed work without having to enter a building, stand in line, or purchase a ticket. This democratizes and gives access to the images. Interaction via motion sensors housed in the sun shields over the displays allow the street interactors to cycle through a database of images and move from display to display to curate their own Louvre/Atlanta show. By giving the interactor curatorial powers, you are thus giving them the power to make meaning through the juxtaposition of these images and display the configuration publicly, just as a museum would. A second tier of access and interaction would be available on a website which would allow remote users to log in and curate images to be shown on the displays. A third component, a huge video wall in the Global Learning Center, could be integrated into the installation by displaying text or images that correspond to the works on the smaller window displays.

We spent hours discussing what images to include in the database. Would it be a security nightmare to let people be able to upload their own images to the database? Should we get around this issue by only giving access to organizations such as schools and community groups? What does it mean to mix the work of masters with a poorly taken photograph? Should we only include images of the Louvre's collection that is going to be on display at the High? We figured we would start there and then re-visit the question this Spring 2007 semester.