The augmented Van Gogh's: Augmented reality experiences for museum visitors

Abstract

To mark the completion of the restoration of Van Gogh's painting ‘The Bedroom’, and as part of the Friday Evening events organised by the Van Gogh Museum, the AR Lab was asked to develop three installations dedicated to the exhibition ‘Paul Gauguin: The Breakthrough into Modernity’. With these installations we aimed to make it possible for visitors to discover paintings by Van Gogh in a playful and exciting way. One of the installations features the painting ‘The Bedroom’ which is shown on a large screen, and by using a digitally modified spray-can, visitors can reveal information about the painting normally not accessible, like x-ray, infrared and ultra violet images, or even the back of the painting. We will describe and later discuss these experimental augmented reality installations, and reflect on the lessons learned in order to make interaction with cultural heritage more exciting.