Cultural Sprawl: The Opportunities of AR for Museum Communication

Digital Culture is progressively spreading to all fields of knowledge. In the field of archaeology, and specifically in the case of museums, it offers a wide range of possible tools and methods that may open new research opportunities. Within the framework of the collaboration between the Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie di Torino, the Department of Control and Computer Engineering, the Department of Architecture and Design, and the VR@POLITO Laboratories, the essay presents the pipeline and the outcomes of a research project aimed at disseminating information associated with archaeological objects. The idea that guided the research is aimed at creating new connections between the museum and the city, contributing to promote cultural tourism by bringing the museum outside the museum. According to the analysis of the state of the art on the opportunities of augmented reality (AR) in cultural institutions and museums, a mobile application has been developed. The application tests an educational and entertaining experience, deploying AR technology to communicate the tangible and intangible aspects associated with some of the objects of the Museo Egizio collection. Through this empirical application, the contribution explores the opportunities of AR technologies to implement the knowledge and dissemination of tangible and intangible aspects of the archaeological objects preserved in the museum and to discover the city’s architectural and cultural heritage.