HoloMuse: Enhancing Engagement with Archaeological Artifacts through Gesture-Based Interaction with Holograms

Abstract

We present HoloMuse, an AR application for the HoloLens wearable device, which allows users to actively engage with archaeological artifacts from a museum collection in ways that are otherwise not possible. We designed HoloLens to facilitate learning and engagement with museum collections without taking away from the experience of viewing an original artifact within the context of an exhibit. HoloMuse can be used inside the gallery or in the classroom. It enables users to pick up, rotate, scale, and alter a hologram of an original archeological artifact using in-air gestures. Users can also curate their own exhibit or customize an existing one by selecting artifacts from a virtual gallery and placing them within the physical world so that they are viewable only using the device. We intend to study the impact of HoloMuse on learning and engagement with college-level art history and archeology students.