Virtual (and plural) Art Museum

Abstract

This paper is about virtual museums of art, which are web interfaces developed by museums to interact with their audiences. It is based on the "plural museum", a concept proposed by Martin-Barbero, and presents three kinds of interfaces: databases, virtual tours, and digital games. It analyzes the relation between artwork and audience in each interface, then it focuses on digital games of three museums: Tate Gallery in London, Museum Boijmans of Rotterdam, and Virtual Museum of Brazilian Art. It concludes that the use of technology is not necessary nor a guarantee of a "plural museum", as it depends on how the museum understands its own institutional role and relates to its audiences.

Keywords

• Virtual museum
• artwork
• Martín-Barbero