Art experience beyond the museum walls

Since the 19th century when they bloomed around the world, museums have always been considered as some closed spaces, preserving valuable art and historical works. Museum’s visitors often interact with the art piece through an audio guide machine or the explanatory text on the side. As technology evolved and devices such as cell phones made their entrance into museums, many curators, artists or exhibition organizers started to tackle on new ways of exposing art works and rethinking the interaction with the visitor: from workshops to online exhibition or dedicated mobile apps.
However, last week on 8th of June, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art from Arizona launched the Mutual Reality: Art in the edge of Technology  exhibition, bringing interaction to the next level. Built in a time when we leave digital footprint in almost all the devices and applications we use, the exhibition aims to make us aware of our relation with data and technology, through art. Artistic projects are exposed by various developers and artists working with the latest technologies of virtual reality or artificial intelligence.
One example is the New Nature app, which allows you to interact with the New Nature exhibited art piece in various museums. As for the Scottsdale’s Mutual Reality: Art in the edge of Technology exhibition, the art project is «an organic, multiplayer growing plant. Featuring haptic feedback, gyroscope, interaction with physical artwork, and everyone else». So, you can interact with the project even outside of the museum, through the mobile app.
As the exhibition’s curators mention: «These interactions are meant to get the viewer thinking not only about the traces we leave behind, but the effects we have on technology. In this important moment in time, humans and technology are evolving together and interactive art exemplifies this relationship. This intimate level of engagement with an artwork opens the opportunity to shift the viewer’s perspective on the meaning and boundaries of art itself.»