An Art Viewing Multimedia System Developed in Collaboration with Ateneum Art Museum/ Finnish National Gallery and Now Operational at the Museum
Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) in collaboration with Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish National Gallery has developed a digital offering, "at Home", now implemented at Ateneum and operational since March 19, 2016. This multimedia system allows viewers to enjoy artworks (watercolors and drawings) by Helene Schjerfbeck, a highly popular Finnish female artist, along with wide-ranging commentaries that can be switched among four languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, and Japanese. The device also affords the opportunity for a wide audience to appreciate works on paper that were rarely exhibited for conservation reasons given the fragile nature of the material.
DNP works alongside various museums in its "DNP Museum Lab" initiative in order to foster familiarity with diverse cultural and artistic contexts, making use of the latest information technology and image processing know-how. Various such art viewing multimedia displays feature presently in permanent collections in venues including the Musée du Louvre, France and the Sèvres - Cité de la Céramique museum, as well as in temporary exhibitions in art museums within Japan. The current "at Home" offering was also developed through this initiative.
Overview of the "at Home" art viewing multimedia system
Developed by DNP in collaboration with Ateneum Art Museum, the "at Home" art viewing multimedia system was implemented at the "Helene Schjerfbeck: Reflections" travelling exhibition within Japan (2015-2016), which featured works loaned by Ateneum. A large number of visitors were thus able to use this system. Female artist Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946), whose paintings show a diverse range of styles that always draw deeply on her own inner vision, has attracted much attention in recent years, not only in her native Finland but also on the international scene. To design the "at Home" system, some one hundred of the artist's paper-based works (such as watercolors and drawings) were digitized , to which information for enhanced understanding of her life and work were added, in order to broadly discover and appreciate the works from a variety of angles. Schjerfbeck's life as an artist is divided into three parts-adolescence, prime of life and her later years - thus enabling visitors to decode the characteristics of each epoch and the artworks produced at that time. The commentary information is available in four interchangeable languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, and Japanese.
"at Home" art viewing multimedia system screen image
Future developments
DNP, along with Ateneum, realizing the high educational potential of the "at Home" artwork viewing system, will continue to develop educational programs, such as workshop programs using tablet-type devices, drawing on know-how related to art appreciation education in Finland.