Seoul City opens “AR Museum” on the mobile

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has opened an "AR Museum" where citizens can enjoy major collections of nine private museums and art galleries through smartphones.

The "AR Museum" was launched to revitalize private museums and art galleries in need as the number of visitors decreased due to COVID-19, and to provide cultural benefits to citizens who are tired of their long "home-staying" life. Using advanced AR technology, meaningful works and exhibition spaces owned by private museums and art galleries have been produced as AR content.

Through the AR museum, people can freely enjoy the major collections of private museums and art galleries in Seoul, including tiles from the Goguryeo Dynasty and Korean painting <The Magpies and a Tiger> to the works by foreign artists Terry Border.

The 9 of 102 private museums and art galleries in Seoul participated in the AR museum, and at the request of each museum, major collections were produced as ▲AR contents, and projects such as ▲3D virtual gallery production and ▲AR kiosk production were carried out.

Seven museums, including the △ YooGeum Museum and the △ Gahoe Museum, produced more than 100 pieces of art, including paintings, installations, sculptures, and earthenware as AR contents

As a result, widely known collections such as ▲The Magpie and a Tiger (Gahoe Museum), ▲Kim So-wol’s anthology (Young-In Literary Museum), ▲ Hat Rain Cover (Jong-Ie Nara Paper Art Museum) can be viewed in three dimensions on mobile anywhere. AR content is expected to attract the interest of the younger generation as it is free to reduce and expand, so it can be taken and edited with photos.

In addition, "3D Virtual Gallery," created using various types of buildings such as hanok, is a service that turns any place visitors are located into a virtual exhibition space anytime.

Six exhibition halls, including the ▲ Gahoe Museum, ▲ Jong-Ie Nara Paper Art Museum, ▲ OCI Museum, and the ▲ Savina Art Museum, were produced as 3D virtual galleries

The 3D virtual gallery not only embodies the indoor space of museums and art galleries in a mobile environment but also allows people to look around the collections that were exhibited in the museum's glass cabinet and are difficult to access in three dimensions as if they were in front of them.

“AR Kiosks” are developed for 9 museums including ▲ Gahoe Museum, ▲ OCI Museum, and ▲Whanki Museum.

The advanced AR kiosk can be experienced from a long distance and provides various experience opportunities in addition to an explanation of the work, helping viewers enjoy high-quality appreciation.

The AR contents of museums and art galleries in Seoul were produced as the result of the “Testbed Seoul Demonstration Support Project”, a project in which SMG invests 450 million won to match and develop technologies necessary for Seoul city, such as transportation, culture, and environment., together with start-ups in the information technology industry. If people search for Seoul AR Museum on Google Chrome, they can enjoy various AR contents in an optimized mobile environment.

Yong-tae Joo, head of the SMG’s Culture Headquarters, said “I hope that this AR content production will be a challenge for private museums and art galleries to adapt to the rapidly changing viewing environment”, adding “The Seoul Metropolitan Government will continue to do its best to help revitalize private museums and art galleries through various project support and to make it easier for more citizens to enjoy culture and art.”

Reported by Smart City Today