Moulding the Museum Medium: Explorations on Embodied and Multisensory Experience in Contemporary Museum Environments

Abstract

The present paper is an enquiry on the contribution of bodily and sensory forms of engagement in the museum experience. While the latter has been often researched from cognitive and social perspectives, the more recent surge in interactive displays, immersive environments and dynamic architectural forms has triggered attention and need for a greater understanding of the physical, multisensory dimension of the museum visit. This can be explored in terms of hands-on displays and engagement with objects, but also as a multifaceted enveloping experience, involving the range of physical elements of the visit within a wide multisensory complex. From this perspective, the museum is understood as a three-dimensional narrative environment, a medium in itself, that makes use of an interconnected set of media, but whose specificity is given by its sensory and spatial dimension. In Part I, the role of this body-space component is framed within communication and learning theories and is explored through a review of publications in multiple fields. In Part II, the topic is subject of a direct field enquiry. One case-study of the original research is chosen for the purpose of this paper.