MiniMuseums are distributed art exhibits contained in small-ish outdoor boxes. Each MiniMuseum gives the viewer a “View Into That World”, according to the artist. Each exhibit has an acrylic viewport that prevents the viewer from touching the inside, but is big enough to look through at the world within, crevices and all. MiniMuseum artists are encouraged to play with interaction - one exhibit features a music box that is affixed such that a viewer may spin the music box from the outside. For features such as this, I work directly with an artist if they need access to machinery or special tools.
As part of the extended experience, viewers can scan an accompanying QR code to be taken to an exhibit-specific website, where they may get a closer look through an interactive 360-degree image made by Interaction Design and Research graduate students at the University of Baltimore. Visitors are able to tap on elements of the interactive image, and learn more about the artist’s thoughts and intended meanings. Each MiniMuseum website also provides information about the project as a whole, and viewers can use the websites to find other MiniMuseums and plan their next whimsical urban adventure!
The MiniMuseums project is intended to support emerging artists by providing an opportunity and platform to share their creativity and voice with the community. The project also intentionally integrates the experience of art into the community; oftentimes, the communities surrounding art museums include people who lack the opportunity and resources to enjoy them on a regular basis. In the future, MiniMuseum exhibits will rotate through different outdoor box locations, giving communities a chance to experience and share in the voice of a new artist, and share with their network the voice of the new artist.