Expolab: design brief

from contemplation

to participation

and beyond

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Expolab creates “experiments” and prototypes in order to start a design research process. As a first step towards this goal, the exhibition “From contemplation to participa-tion and beyond” is aimed at showing by example what is involved in participatory exhibition design.

This exhibition deals with information technology and inno-vation. Consequently, it needs technology to actually come into being but also to explore innovative processes in ex-hibition design. What we do in this project is to apply the thinking patterns and collaborartive organization methods of the technological culture, the 2.0 ways of organizing, but to a different domain: exhibition design. The whole process provided abundant material for further reflection and borught about a lot of learning opportunities both for museum visitors and professionals. We believe that in this way, citizens learn by sharing the role and tasks of cura-tors and exhibition designers. On the other hand, museum professionals have the opportunity to test for themselves a different role and skills set, closer to facilitation and coordi-nation than they might be used to. We hope that the results of this project will be useful for all the people in the exhibi-tiion design community. Also we feel that it also has value for everyone who, not necessarily being a museum pro-fessional, may see value in applying this type of processes to other domains such as technology center programme design, learning formats design for schools etc.

The exhibition “From contemplation to participation and beyond” uses as its main theme the changes that information technologies and, more specifically the In-ternet, have introduced in our lives. However the pro-cess to create the exhibition has been a participatory codesign process. Starting from personal questions

Expolab explores new possibilities in exhibition design. These new possibilities involve citizen participation and citizen’s con-tribution to exhibition design. The world of exhibitions has been a rather closed one. Curators had almost all the decision power about exhibition contents and formats. Expolab wants to be an open laboratory for participatory exhibition design used by museum professionals and non-professionals alike.

addressed to citizens (“How has the Internet changed your life?”) we applied a set of design research and co-design strategies in collaboration with an increasing group of participants. These people were able to iden-tify subject areas for the exhibition, create design briefs for other participants, and end up designing the actual exhibition modules. Each one of the participants con-nected personal experiences with the changes brought about by the Internet, tried to explain the science and technology behind them and, last but not at all least, bundled in each exhibit the dimensions of object-ba-sed, interactive and participatory exhibits.

The whole process proceeded in two main steps. The first one was devoted to brainstorming, rapid prototyping and the creation of design briefs and involved the organization of several workshops at Citilab and other venues. The se-cond phase involved a strong collaboration with the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, via a sha-red virtual design space in Second Life. Designers from all over the world contributed their own interpretations of the exhibition modules based on the design brief created with the help of citizens in the workshops. Finally, both online and offline, people from all the world voted and se-lected the (for them) best realization of each module.

After that, the Expolab team, led by Irene Lapuente, with the cooperation of Ramon Sangüesa, Héctor Za-pata and Astrid Lubsen, worked to polish up some as-pects of the final candidate designs in order to integra-te the most voted proposals into a coherent exhibition.

This document is the result of all this work

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From contemplation, to participation, and beyond

Design proposal in Second Life

As contents and processes are concerned, the main goal of the exhibition “From contemplation to participation and beyond” is to get technological concepts closer to citi-zens in a way that they can be participants and contribu-tors in the process.

We want to move from the tradition in exhibition design that assumes a contemplative, passive, attitude on the part of visitors to a frame of discourse based on participatory and contributory exhibition design. In the process, we findd opportuni-ties to explore other new possibili-ties for exhibition design processes and methods and hope to unearth new knowledge.

We hope that the result of the work done in all the workshops that we have organized with the participation of citizens, the design sessions held in Second Life as well as the results of the voting process are described with enough detail in this document, which has to be seen as a set of guidelines for actual exhibit construction. We also would like that these guidelines help would-be builders of the exhibits in conveying the participatory philosophy that we have strived to follow all

along the project. And so, we hope that visitors of the final exhibition will be able to fully appreciate the underlying participatory values.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EXHIBITS

• All cubes have to be mounted and dis-mounted easily. They also should be easily transported. • Outer walls of cubes should be made of white melamine, except the ones that have been portrayed in color. • The inner surfaces of walls should have a black finish. • Cubes have to be resistant to vandalism.• Cube floors have to include access ramps as indicated in the corresponding designs. • There has to be be easy access to all

computers. • Electric plugs and cables should be protected. • All texts, images and audiovisual content will be pro-

vided by Citilab. • Citilab can provide part of the hardware which inclu-

des computers, screens, Wii consoles, etc.

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Introductory CubeTHE EXHIBITION HAS AN INTRODUCTION CUBE WHERE WE WILL SHOW THE PROCESS THAT RESULTED IN THE CREATION OF THE EXHIBITION. IN THIS CUBE VISITORS WILL BE INVITED TO CONTRIBUTE WITH ITINERARIES TO BE FOLLOWED IN THE ACTUAL SPACE OF THE EXHIBITION. THEY ALSO WILL BE INVITED TO LEAVE THEIR OWN COMMENTS FOR THE INCOMING NEW VISITORS/PARTICIPANTS.

On the inside part of the cube, videos, photos and texts on display will show the different steps that the whole exhibition project has gone through. In the inner central space a glass cabinet will display the winning prototype of the first phase of offline workshops, i.e., the participatory workhsops aimed at finding the main themes of the exhibition.

On one of the outer walls, space will be set aside to accomodate the structures where people will be able to drop or fix paper sheets with their recommendations for itineraries to follow within the exhibition. The same structures can be used to consult other itineraries contributed by previous visitors. On the opposite wall, a screen will be mounted. This screen will show all the tweets related to the exhibition. There will be also other, more “analogical” space where visitors will be able to leave their comments using Post-It™ notes.

We also want this space to be used as a place to introduce to visitors all the people that have been protagonists of this first exhibition, which are many!. We’d like to share with visitors the images of the prototypes that other citizens have created as well as the good many ideas that have appeared in the process. All this material is under Creative Commons. So, it is open to anyone to use. A last wall will continously portray the names of all the participants in the process leading to the final exhibition, as if they were the opening (or closing) credits of a film, so to speak. This can be done by using a screen that will be hung within a large Expolab logo.

Permanent markers

Box with Expolab maps

Glass box50x80x50 cm.

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3 walls *, 2.2 x 2.2 m1 floor, 2.2 x 2.2 m

1 TV screen small-sized4 fotos del procés

1 glass cabinet1 winning object

3 transparent boxes10 pens and pencils

300 sheets to draw itiniraries1 large expo logo1 large TV screen

1 laptop for tweets* proposed material: melamine

INVENTORY

FLOOR PLANS

RIGHT VIEW

REAR VIEW

FRONT VIEW

Permanentmarkers

Box withExpolab maps




Permanentmarkers


Permanentmarkers


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ConnectionsTHIS PROPOSAL HAS BEEN DESIGNED WITH THE SUPPORT OF MARIA BOBES. IT WAS THE WINNER OF THE POPULAR CONTEST THAT TOOK PLACE ONLINE AND OFFLINE ON APRIL 7TH AND 8TH 2010. THE PROPOSAL ANALYZES THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE AND THEIR SOCIAL NETWORKS BOTH ONLINE AND OFFLINE.

Each one of these two different concepts (connections in the “real” and “virtual” worlds) are represented on separate walls of the cube. On one of them, people will show their relationships with other people by tying up threads of different colors and textures. On the opposite wall, the real number of strong and weak relations that we can eventually sustain will be put into question. This second wall will also show knowledge about the theories that explain social networks as well as the type of complex structures that they can eventually create. In the central area of the cube, two laptops will host computer programs that help the visitors delve deeper into all these concepts.

The wall which analyzes the social relationships that visitors have (or say they have) in both the physical and the virtual world is made up of methacrylate, so that it allows some degree of mutual visibility between both worlds. Visitors will find small dummies representing people with generic person names attached to them: María, Juan, Carlos, Alex, Jordi, Marta, Nuria, Irene, Carmen, Ramón, Héctor, etc. There also will be some thread reels with a simple cutting device, in order to allow visitors to select a colored thread and to cut it. Threads will be used to connect together the small dummies and, in this way, people will be able to portray the relations that connect them to each other. These thread links will be added during the duration of the exhibition by the action of visitors so that a complex structure will eventually arise.

The wall portraying the number and typology of relations (weak, strong) is covered by an stick-on vynil sheet where participants write down the number of relationships of each type that they think they actually maintain. These will be written within square grids previously inscribed with numbers. On the inner part of this wall, visitors will see the theoretical explanations of all these concepts.

Computer programs on laptops are currently been designed. Their final implementation will be done by the Citilab development team, probably.

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1 wall, 2.2 x 2.2 m1 floor, 2.2 x 2.2 m1 wooden frame

1 blue transparent wall400 dummies with names5 thread rolls, easy to cut

10 interchangeable vynil sheets1 box

10 pens1 holder for laptops

2 laptops1 TV screen

3 poster

INVENTORY

FLOOR PLAN RIGHTSIDE VIEW

FRONT VIEW REAR VIEW

meth-acrylateplate 1cm

PermanentMarkers


InterchangeablePrinted Vinyl


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Share MemoriesTHIS CUBE PRESENTS THE EVOLUTION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERAS FROM THE ANALOGICAL TO THE DIGITAL, AS WELL AS THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THIS CHANGE. IN THE PAST, PEOPLE TREASURED ONE OR TWO PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN THEIR LIVES. NOWADAYS, WE SWIM IN A SEA OF THOUSANDS OF OUR OWN PHOTOS

The process of chemical photographic development stored images as a chemical layer on photographic film. It imposed some physical constraints that didn’t allow too much manipulation of images. Now, thanks to the use of semiconductors and the translation of light into computer language, images are more easily managed and changed.

This cube shows the different processes (digital, chemical) and the basic operation of a camera by presenting a set of lenses that is still common both to analog and digital photographic cameras. It invites visitors to build a pinhole camera and to share their own digital photos by using digital plataforms like Flickr.

The exhibit is made up of three walls. On its inner side the science and technology basics of photography (both analog and digital) is shown. This is done by giving information both on chemical products and also on digital manipulations allowed by popular computer photo editing programs like PhotoShop™. The lens set helps in understanding the principles by which light is focused onto a point, how this is used to generate an image and, finally, to get a photograph.

The optical bank and the lens set will be an important part of this exhibit. On the same wall where the bank is located, a video showing the differences between the two photographic processes will be projected. This video was produced by Josep Maria Marimon, who participated in the workshops and other phases of he project (http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=e0XPUGpfzEo)

Outer walls of the cube, instead, will remark the social aspect of photography. They also offer a space for participation. On one of the walls, a device collects and shows the photographs taken and shared by visitors. On the opposite wall, a small audio or video recreation will tell the story of an old person (actually a participant in one of the workshops) who comments “when I was a kid, I had a small shoebox with old photographs, one or two for each important event. Whenever I was ill, my mother would give me the shoebox so that I could amuse myself and forget pain”. Citilab will be in charge of editing the material protraying this person story.

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3 walls 2.2 x 2.2 m1 floor 2.2 x 2.2 m

1 corner for pinhole camera1 camera

1 table for camera2 headphones

2 slide projectors1 mirror

2 TV screens1 laptop with webcam

4 posters4 shelves

1 optical bench + lens set1 CCD

INVENTORY

LEFT VIEW RIGHT VIEW

FLOOR PLAN FRONT VIEW

Mirror

2 Projectors

Mirror

2 Projectors

PinholeCamera

Mirror

2 Projectors

PinholeCamera

Mirror

2 Projectors

PinholeCamera

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Digital SkiesTHIS IS A PROPOSAL BY BOB KETNER. IT REVOLVES AROUND THE FACT OF WHAT IT MEANS TO MOVE AROUND SPACE AND TIME IN THE INTERNET ERA.

The author of this proposal created a cube a visitor could enter, by means of a joystick, the geographical data of a place where he or she wanted to travel to. Also the visitor can introduce the time when the visit has to take place. Four projectors will simulate the appaearance of the selected destination at the selected time. That means that if the time is a night hour then, on the ceiling of the cube, the visitor will be able to see the star constellations of the destination in that precise moment of the year. In this way, the exhibit will emulate the possibility of a global trip.

From the outside of the exhibit, through polarized glass, other visitors will be able to watch was going on in the inside of the cube. This cube tries to create a totally immersive experience. It is almost a CAVE environment devo-ted to travel simulation. It makes us ask what “travelling” really means. Could we really say that we have been able to “break” physical barriers and transport ourselves (however virtually) to the other end of the world in seconds?.

These physical concepts, space and time, will be the science that this cube deals with. One of the outer walls will show a more theoretical approach to them. It will also portray a real example of travel that goes beyond the physically close or comfortable. For example, the probes Spirit and Opportunity, currently exploring the surface of Mars, could be an illustration of this type of travel.(http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=7N-yhPZJz0s).

Another wall will show images of different places in different moments of the day. These images will be sent by visitors. Their photos will be combined in the the cube with five netbooks that will be connected to other places on the planet. In this way, and by using webcams, one will be able to be in touch with similar exhibition centers in other locations of the world. The first one to join this initiative could be the Tech Museum in San Jose, California.

Of the remaining two walls of the cube, one will be used to actually access to the inside of the cube itself (we propose to use black cloth for this wall). The other one will hold two circular polarized glasses, actually creating a window giving on to the inner part of the cube. One of these two glasses will be located at a lower distance from the floor, adjusted to the height of a child. Both circular windows will allow to see from the outside what is going on in the inside of the cube. This, we hope, will draw visitors’ attention to it.

The computer application that will allow “travelling” and cover the outer wall with photographs contributed by visitors has to be linked with a collective activity and with the invitation to people to participate. Visitors will be invited to send photographs of a given place of the city they visited on holidays. These photographs will have to be taken at four different moments of the day: morning, noon, afternoon and night.

control steering wheelEarth hemisphere

Four 4:3 video projectors Glass visible only from

outsideTabla Zones HoràriesNetbooksOpaque

black curtain

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3 walls 2.2 x 2.2 m1 floor 2.2 x 2.2 m

1 cover1 black cloth

2 polarized lens1 joystick

1 Earth hemisphere1 a hoe-shaped

25 Time Zone photos4 projectors5 netbooks

INVENTORY


FLOOR PLAN FRONT VIEW

Glass visible onlyfrom outside

Table Hour Zones-Netbooks

Tabla Zones HoràriesNetbooks



Four 4:3video projectors

control steering wheelEarth hemisphere Table Hour Zones-

NetbooksOpaqueblack curtain

Opaqueblack curtain

Glass visible onlyfrom outside




Opaqueblack curtain



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Idea BankA DESIGN PROPOSAL BY BOB KETNER. IT IS A LARGE BOWL CONTAINING CARDS WITH IDEAS EXPRESSED AS (NUMBE-RED) TEXTS AND IMAGES.

Visitors will be invited to take a card and then suggest a new idea. This new idea will be written (or glued if it is an image) on a new card that will be numbered with the same number as the original image or text. The new card will become part of the original “idea bowl”. In this way, all original ideas will evolve and will transform themselves into new suggestions. This cube tries to portray how our thinking evolves throughout the Internet. In the same exhibit there will be room to talk about the new ways and possibilities of collective work facilitated by technological tools such as Google Docs, Google Groups, Google Wave, wikis, blogs, twitter, etc. This exhibit will be completely analogical in order to contrast as much as possible with its well-known digital counterparts.

This is the exhibit that is more different from the cubic shape. Its central part accommodates the actual idea bowl. On one of the corners, there will be room to explain the theoretical and conceptual basis for idea connection on the internet.

It is important that on the central area of the cube visitors could also find material to participate in the exhibit. On the side walls of the exhibit little boxes will placed containing cards and pens. The overall structure will have the form of a table and on its surface directions will be written so that people can actually contribute and participate.

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1 wall 1.5 x 2.2 m1 wall 0.6 x 2.2 m1 floor 2.2 x 2.2 m1 cubic structure

1 structure for writing:height 0.9 m

4 half - spheres 0.4 mwith 4 holes

20 pens

INVENTORY


FLOOR PLANT FRONT VIEW

Transparenthalf-sphereRadius 40cm4 apertures



Transparenthalf-sphereRadius 40cm

4 apertures


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What is your point of view about security?THIS CUBE IS A PROPOSAL BY MARIE AND STEPHEN CRANDELL. IT EXPLORES THE FEELING OF SAFETY AND SE-CURITY OF VISITORS USING DIGITAL AND ANALOG MEANS.

The proposal is based on building two rooms: one where pictures of Spanish traditional street watchmen (“serenos”) are portrayed and another one where CCTV cameras are located. In the first one, a real person will open the room entrance door for visitors. This same person will be entering and leaving the room while visitors are inside the cube.

The proposal involves creating two physically separated rooms. So, we have to talk not about a single cube but actually about two independent half-cubes that will be located in two different places in Citilab. The cube devoted to analog security will be placed on Citilab’s ground floor where everyone can have access to it and where, usually, there is more traffic of visitors. The computerized surveillance half-cube will be on Citilab’s second floor and will have three cameras. One camera will point to the entrance door and the other two will record what is happening inside the half-cube. What is filmed by these cameras will be seen on screens in different spaces of Citilab. Screens showing what happens when someone enters the half-cube will be in the “Open Surf” hall of the ground floor, and other screens will be placed in familiar locations of Citialb (such as Citilab’s bar or the restrooms, for example).

The interior of both half-cubes should be as similar as possible. It will include a sofa, a magazine rack and a TV set. In the cube located at ground level, the TV set will show the images recorded on the half-cube located on the second floor. The latter half-cube will have some game on a Wii console so that visitors can entertain themselves by playing with it. The inner walls of both cubes will be covered with painted wallpaper as if the half-cube were a small room in a typical family home.

The outer surfaces of the ground floor cube will be covered with a white vinyl sheet inviting visitors to use colour pens (located inside a small box attached to the outer wall) to share what they have felt while they were inside the cube. The narrower outer wall will show images of the traditional Spanish watchmen (“serenos”) and will explain who these people were and what they did.

One of the walls of the second floor cube will be used to explain how CCTVs work and also to tell the history of their development. An open camera will be shown and its components will be placed inside little methacrylate cubes. The smaller wall will be used as a projection screen where all the tweets of participants with the hashtag “#cctv” will be shown.

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FLOOR PLAN 22 walls 1.4 x 2.2 m2 walls 2.2 x 2.2 m1 floor 2.2 x 1.4 m

1 door with key1 small sofa

1 vase with flowers1 magazine rack with magazines

1 Wii1 TV screen

4 webcams LAN5 netbooks

4 transparent cubesto hold CCTV components4 components of an unassembled CCTV

1 laptop

FLOOR PLAN 12 walls 1.4 x 2.2 m2 walls 2.2 x 2.2 m1 floor 2.2 x 1.4 m

1 door with key1 small sofa

1 vase with flowers1 magazine rack with magazines

1 TV screen1 vinyl

10 markers1 small box for markers

1 large poster of “sereno”

INVENTORY


FLOOR PLANT UPPER PERSPECTIVE

INVENTORY

Entry Door

TV Screen

Entry Door

TV Screen

TV Screen

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MetacubeTHE “METACUBE” PORTRAYS OTHER POSSIBLE EXHIBITIONS. IT COLLECTS EVERYTHING THAT HAS EMERGED DURING THE PROCESS OF EXHIBITION DESIGN BUT THAT WAS NOT SELECTED OR THAT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO PHYSICALLY BUILD. THE “METACUBE” IS COMPOSED OF SMALL CLOTH CUBES OF 40X40X40 CMS.

We suggest a holding structure for these cubes and a screen to implement an Augmented Reality game. These cloth cubes will contain images of all the proposed (but not implemented) exhibit prototypes. They will also have marks so that, when they are brought closer to the screen, an Augmented Reality application will be activated showing what the exhibit prototype would have been like, had it actually been built.

Since the cubes are made of cloth, they are light and allow for easy handling. We hope that small kids can enjoy the game along with the wonders of state of the art technology.

This is also an exhibit for grown-ups, for those who would like to see some of the proposals that didn’t get enough votes and that, for that reason never become a reality. It is a way to extend a litlle more the exhibition as well as an acknowledgement to all participants.

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1 wall 2.2 x 2.2 m1 wall 2.2 x 2.2 m

20 cubes0.4 x 0.4 x 0.4 m

20 printed fabrics with Augmented Reality codes and images of the exhibit

1 screen to display Augmented Reality images

20 Augmented Reality designs

INVENTORY


FLOOR PLANT FRONT VIEW

Augmented RealityScreen

Cushions40 x 40 x 40 cm.









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Documents

Expolab: design brief