Following a major capital campaign, historic restoration and modern renovation, Cooper Hewitt went through many types of transformation. One of these was of course a digital transformation, in which the museum found itself primed to develop a new ways of thinking around its collection, its in-gallery experience, and just about every other aspect of the museum one could think of. By its reopening in 2014, Cooper Hewitt was ready to present itself as “The Museum of the Future.”
But what is a “museum of the future” and what’s involved in making one? Cooper Hewitt knew that in order to survive and in order to flourish as a premier design museum, not only in New York, but around the world, it would have to cater to a new, savvy audience, one which was online by default.
In Micah Walter’s presentation, Touch the Objects Micah will attempt to consider the variables, players, and difficult decisions that had to be made in order to reach this new, mobile, and tech savvy audience. The work includes a major development on the museum’s online collection, as well as interfaces and connective tissues to bring these things to light. Most importantly though, the museum realized early on that it would have to digitize its entire collection of over 200,000 objects so that this audience could hold them in their hands.
Touch the Objects is about making the collection accessible to everyone. It’s about bringing the collection back to its beginnings as a teaching, working collection. And while visitors might not be able to actually “touch the object” the museum will attempt to get them pretty close!
2. –Bill Moggridge 1943-2012
“You will only know that the design
is good when you have tried it out
with the people who will use it and
found that they are pleased,
excited, motivated and satisfied
with the result.”
