INNOVAMUSEI AWARDS THE SYNERGY BETWEEN BRESCIA MUSEI AND ARTGLASS: an example of multi-year, sustainable, and innovative collaboration for cultural innovation

With the project “The Castle of Brescia and the archaeological system of Brescia Museums – Accessible tourism and enhancement paths thanks to a new Augmented Reality“, the partnership between Fondazione Brescia Musei and ARtGlass is once again consolidated thanks to the contribution received within the InnovaMusei 2021 call.

The Regional Council of Lombardy, Unioncamere Lombardia, and Fondazione Cariplo aim to favor the meeting between the museums recognized by the Lombardy Region and cultural enterprises in order to give life to innovative projects regarding the museum’s offer and management.

Thanks to the new project presented and awarded by InnovaMusei, the harmonious and efficient collaboration developed over the years between Fondazione Brescia Musei and ARtGlass can continue to grow. This represents the opportunity to keep developing augmented reality projects for the enhancement and accessibility of Brescia’s cultural heritage.

The ARtGlass tours in Brescia Musei have so far received broad consensus from the public, formalized in surveys that document an average level of satisfaction between 95 and 98%. With the new project proposal, ARtGlass has decided to further expand the user base thanks to new implementations.

Efforts will be made to expand the augmented reality supply of the Brescia Musei cultural complex. In parallel, the service will take an evolutionary leap. It will upgrade from “premium” technology to a democratic and inclusive tool for cultural and tourist use and interpretation.

The project presented provides for the expansion of the current AR supply at Brescia Musei, by activating tours on AR smartglasses also at the Castle of Brescia, which has not yet been affected by a cultural offer equipped with innovative technologies. Furthermore, the AR tour of the archaeological area, already active, will be enriched by a new narration of the Winged Victory, recently relocated to the Capitoline Temple. Inclusive experiences will be made available, such as dynamic subtitling in AR and accessible contents to make different points of interest observable to people with hearing and motor disabilities. Finally, gaming experiences will be implemented to strengthen the edutainment factor of the cultural experience by stimulating learning and active participation by children.

With the achievement of these objectives and the renewal of the current hardware equipment, hence implementing new devices with wider functionality and greater interactivity, the project aims to increase the evolution and innovation of the cultural offer of the Brescia Musei. In doing so, the cultural complex will keep bringing new audiences closer and retaining local audiences.

Given the recognition and enhancement of the contribution of InnovaMusei, both the ARtGlass interdisciplinary team that will take care of the project and the staff of the educational services of Brescia Musei are enthusiastic and ready to get to work to carry out these interventions in joint collaboration.