From an Onsite to an Online Experience: The Case of the Museo Gabriela Mistral de Vicuña

Abstract

Abstract The Museo Gabriela Mistral, dedicated to the only Latin American woman to have yet won the Nobel Prize for Literature, is part of the state network of museums in Chile. It is located in Vicuña, in the Elqui Valley. Prior to the pandemic, it received 140,000 visitors annually, mostly women and elderly Chileans, according to data provided by audience studies. Located in the poet's birthplace, its different spaces explore the memory and the personal and collective remembrance of Mistral, allowing each visitor’s individual ideas about her to emerge and vividly manifest throughout the exhibition and the property. This leads us to affirm that memory is present as a structural part of this museum, since memory requires a physical place with which to form historical and emotional connections. When the Covid-19 related lockdown began on 16 March 2020 in Chile, the museum was forced to migrate its successful onsite experiences to online counterparts. It had to divert its focus to a digital community that was unknown and little-explored up to that point, since the museum had prioritised the onsite experience. 16 months into the pandemic, including nine months of closure for the museum followed by partial and sporadic openings – as well as 70,000 social media engagements in March 2021 alone – it is worth asking: is the museum effectively closed? Moreover, who makes up the online community interested in Gabriela Mistral? This article explores these questions, including through the lens of the museum’s limited technical capabilities and available budget.