Situated & sensory media between centre & periphery in museum mediation

Abstract

The centre-periphery problem is acknowledged in the many international and historical cases of cultural plunder and consequent retention (Elgin marbles etc.). However, the centre-periphery problem is not limited to highly published examples, but continue to be a fundamental challenge to all centralized museums and their relationships to the original contexts of both their stored and displayed artifacts. The emerging digital solutions based on locative media may solve several of these problems, at least limit some of the damage being done. In this paper we give an overview of the various exchanges and stages in the relationship between periphery and centre, between the artifact's original habitat and its place in the museum collection and how they in different ways can be augmented by mobile augmented reality (situated simulation). The paper discusses how several situated simulations for smartphones and tablets have been evaluated and experimented with in the context of the centre-periphery relationship.