Time to Play: Experiential Learning Using Interactive Technologies

Abstract

This paper offers a case study of a permanent gallery curated and developed by the author for one of the National Museums of Science & Industry in the UK. The gallery was composed entirely of interactive digital media art installations that were employed in an experiential interpretation strategy drawing attention to technology-based issues of an intangible nature. A short introduction to the project is followed by a brief description of the Curatorial Agenda and its implementation, as some appreciation of this background is important in understanding how the experiential mode of address was intended in relation to the subject. The paper then seeks to explain how we might figure the nature of the experiential encounter with the technology-based exhibits contained within the gallery. It does this by developing an account of the visitor experience that draws upon descriptive phenomenological approaches to understanding our relations to objects and events.