Museum Futures in New York by Morpholio

Article source: Morpholio

This fall celebrates the exhibition opening of Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries at the Jewish museum in New York.  On display are thousands of pages from Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, posing a curatorial challenge as material access is weighed against space and experience.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

• Architects: Morpholio
• Project: Museum Futures
• Location: New York, U.S.A
• Morpholio Co-Creators: Jeffrey Kenoff, Mark Collins, Toru Hasegawa, Anna Kenoff
• Collaborators: Fernando Portal, Community Director; Ciara Seymour, UX Director
• Sponsors: Dyson, Herman Miller, 3Form

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Enter Morpholio who created a custom version of their fast growing portfolio app that is capable of displaying the ancient manuscripts in a beautiful, secure, yet highly accessible way. Called Morpholio Exhibit, it is the first truly customizable, exhibition specific solution for tablet display.  Morpholio has crafted a suite of software that offers smarter means of presentation, collaboration and critique of visual material.  The applications’ unique ability to track and record user interaction also provides new resources for design and curatorial teams, truly advancing the role of technology in the art and exhibition world.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

The Crossing Borders exhibition uniquely contained a colossal amount of precious and historical material. Ultimately the museum needed a “way to experience a thousand-year-old book” says exhibition designer, Eric Liftin of MESH Architectures. As no software existed that could handle the multitude of specific needs for the exhibition, Liftin’s design team reached out to Morpholio to discuss a modified version of the Morpholio application. Due to the challenges faced with visitor involvement, spatial limitations, and experiential necessities the exhibition design team decided to promote strategically placed white iPads as a continuous part of the experience. “One of the most beautiful objects here — the show’s centerpiece — is the 922-page Kennicott Bible”…“examined at the exhibition on a sequence of mounted iPads.” says Ed Rothstein of the New York Times.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

The custom modified Morpholio app created was an extension of space.” says Toru Hasegawa, Morpholio co-creator. The result represents a new process for museums to employ in future exhibitions and a new way to consider the role of the audience. “App and device culture have already begun to permeate the museum experience and will, in all ways, be a part of their future.” says Jeffrey Kenoff, Morpholio co-creator.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

For Morpholio, what makes this additionally intriguing is that, as the visitor is experiencing the exhibition, the app has the unique ability to track and record their interaction.  This data has the potential to inform the curatorial team as well as the exhibit thereby making the installation itself a utility for the museum. “The iPad applications enrich our exhibition exponentially.” Says Rebecca Pristoop, former assistant curator at the Jewish Museum and “offer our visitors an amazing entryway into the visual depths of these precious treasures.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

The human visual system is the super highway into the brain.” says Mark Collins, Morpholio co-creator, “We know from our everyday experience with the world that images have the power to communicate, provoke, and teach beyond any other medium.”  The Morpholio project is currently developing powerful technologies and is enabling new ways for creative cultures to share, advance and improve what is most important to them; their ideas.  As the cloud era takes shape, it is crucial that the creative fields find specific tools that enable them to harness the power of the increasingly ubiquitous technologies and devices that are shaping a global evolution of culture and process.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Morpholio is now speaking with various museums and galleries to create custom museum grade versions of Morpholio Exhibit.  These applications will have a compelling infrastructure for developing and deploying digital exhibitions or adding digital components to exhibitions, retail environments, and trade shows.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Features will include a customizable interface, web-based file organization and deployment to devices, and security options. Utilizing the cloud-based technologies that power the Morpholio and Morpholio Trace apps, Morpholio Exhibit users will also be able to deliver extremely high-resolution content to any number of devices and customize each display, and even synchronize behavior across multiple devices.  For Crossing Borders, “the overall impact is powerful” says the New York Times.  Visit the Jewish museum before February 3, 2013 to swipe through the manuscripts.

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Image Courtesy © Morpholio

Tags: New York, U.S.A.

Categories: Exhibition, Museum

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