Pop Up Museum

This is a Play/Make session themed around the idea of a Pop Up Museum created from digital content.

Some museums/galleries have been digitally scanning parts of their collections to generate 3D models of those objects, while others have invited individuals to create models of objects on display using their cell phone cameras.

www.thingiverse.com/tag:museum

These initiatives rely on recent technological developments in 3D scanning and printing. As more cultural and heritage resources are digitized in this way, what can we do with that content? How can it be made accessible? In what form(s) could it take, and where?

Pop Up events are temporary, ad hoc installations, often in unconventional places. With the availability and portability of digital content, what would Pop Up Museums utilizing this content look like?

I’m bringing some of these 3D technologies with me to NCPH for a session on Saturday, but I’m proposing to set it up at THATCamp NCPH for people there to try out. I’ll have RGB depth cameras (like Microsoft’s Kinect) that can be used for scanning objects or for interaction — such devices basically allow a computer to see. Try creating your own digital models with one of these sensors, or using your own digital camera with free photogrammetry software to digitize the world around you.

There will also be a 3D printer there if you’d like to explore that technology — maybe your Pop Up Museum would have replicas of things printed out for people to handle or involve the realization of a mashup of various objects to make a particular statement. You can try it out, and we can explore options to make things with the printer.

Some peripherals to try to make custom interfaces for interacting with a computer will also be available. These might be needed to control and direct software involved, or to add more interaction to your Pop Up Museum.

This would be a hands-on session — you can try out some of the technologies to get some experience with them, or you could use them to work on elements of a Pop Up Museum.