Games in the Agora

Presentation for the seminar, “Museology, museography and new means of addressing the public,” Centre Pompidou (IRI), Paris, 11 February 2009

Nancy Proctor, Smithsonian American Art Museum ProctorN@si.edu

What’s at stake in the 21st century museum

• 19 Museums• 156 Affiliate museums• 9 Research centers• 136+ million objects• And 1 ZooMore than 32 million visitors on site & 189 million on-line each year

The Smithsonian Institution: for the Increase & Diffusion of Knowledge

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SI 2.0

What is the Museumin this Web 2.0 world of information on demand?

Smithsonian20.si.edu

• Whatever• Wherever• Whenever

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The Museums…

The Smithsonian American Art Museum & its Renwick Gallery

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The Museum has become a Distributed Network

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Photo by Mike Lee, 2007; from SAAM Flickr Group

Our audiences now access American Art through a wide range of platforms

beyond the museum’s walls and website

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The Museum is transforming from Acropolis…

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… into Agora

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The Stakes of the Game

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Ghosts of a Chance: A Game in the Museum Agora

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What is an ARG?

• Alternate Reality Game• A kind of ‘scavenger hunt’ for the 21st century• Played across both ‘real world’ and digital

spaces, including web, phone & text message• Involves collaboration among large and

disparate communities to ‘solve’ the game• Unfolds through stories that change and are

developed dialectically by the game’s designers in response to the players

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Ghosts of a Chance is:

1. The mystery of the haunting of two Luce Center ‘curators’, Daisy and Daniel

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Ghosts of a Chance is:

2. The story-within-a-story of four, 19th century characters who are haunting the American Art Museum

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Ghosts of a Chance is:

3. A hunt for clues to the identity of the ghosts

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Ghosts of a Chance is:

4. A one-day exhibition in the Luce Center of objects related to the story, made by players in response to four ‘challenges’

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Ghosts of a Chance is:5. A series of events and tours of sites where the game’s story unfolds

– An ARG festival– The Natural History Museum– The National Cemetery– The American Art Museum

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Ghosts of a Chance is:

6. Six scavenger hunts at SAAM

on October 25, 2008

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Where GOAC was played:In the ‘Real World’1. An ARG fest for ‘hard-core’ players in Boston2. The basement and forensic labs of the

Natural History Museum3. The Congressional Cemetery4. In the American Art Museum, including the

Luce Center and GOAC exhibition

Over 250 players at the Museum on October 25, 2008.

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Where GOAC was played:Online1. The GOAC website: GhostsofaChance.com2. The Argers’ forum (a blog):

http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=262613. The SAAM website: AmericanArt.si.edu4. SAAM’s blog: Eyelevel.si.edu5. Facebook6. Smithsonian Magazine website:

www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/atm-game-200810.html

More than 6000 players participated online over 2 months.

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Clues by text message

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A clue from a mystery caller

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A clue seen through a window

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An Art Demonstrator?

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A chef in the galleries?

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Let them eat cake!

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And dance!

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Getting Creative

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Everyone’s a winner!

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Player Feedback• I just first want to emphasize how fun Ghosts of a Chance was. My

husband and I had a really fun time doing it.

• …We also like the integration of text messaging and cell phones -- both of those things made it more than just a 'regular' scavenger hunt.

• I think it did make me look at art museums, in particular SAAM, in a different way. We certainly spent more time in the museum than we would have otherwise…

• Even though we were 'exposed' to the whole museum, I also liked that there were a couple of pieces of art that we actually had to sit and ponder… I never would have spent the time staring into the painting and trying to understand it if it weren't part of a task.

• I think it would be great to turn this into a shorter, user-centered, on-demand version. In fact, I think something like this would be a LOT more fun than some of the passive audio tours that you get in a lot of museums, and would allow for more user-generated content.

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Player Feedback• My 8 year old (3rd grade) daughter and I had a FANTASTIC time, and … she

wants to bring her friends with her next time. • We definitely went to parts of the museum that we would not have gone to

previously. It definitely made art more interactive. • I LOVED INTERACTING WITH THE MUSEUM & OBJECTS INSTEAD OF JUST

LOOKING AT THINGS AND OBSERVING AND JUDGING - IT WAS TONS OF FUN TO FEEL A PART OF IT ALL! … ALSO MADE IT FEEL LESS PRECIOUS … ALL FELT A LITTLE MORE PERSONALLY CONNECTED …

• I liked the game because normally at art museums I get bored after a while but this gave me something to do. I would definitely do it again or recommend it to someone else.

• I have spent quite some time in art museums and this is probably the first time that it felt like the museum was meant to be fun and interactive rather than more somber and pensive. It was really refreshing and definitely gave me a sense of community with the people who were coordinating the event and the other people participating in it.

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What’s at stake in the Museum as Agora

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Nancy Proctor, ProctorN@si.eduFIAMP 16 October 2008

33Fraunhofer Institute, Kunstmuseum Bonn: ‘Beat Zoderer’ exhibition (Listen project) 2003

It’s NOT about the Technology

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Interpretation is as essential to the Museum as cutlery is to a banquet

Beth Lipman, Bancketje (Banquet) 2003

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• Some visitors may bring their own,

• Some may eat only the finger food,

• Some may choose another restaurant,

• Many will go away hungry,

feeling uninvited and unwelcome.

If the Museum doesn’t provide it:

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Learning throughSocratic Dialogue

SmartHistory.org

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“Meet them where they are,& take them someplace new.”

- Michael Edson, Director of Web & New Media Strategy, Smithsonian Institution

& ‘The Museum Shuffle’inEyeLevel.si.eduApril 4, 2008Blog post by Howard Kaplan, “Merce C”By Franz Klein

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Happiness

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Happiness

1. Satisfying work to do

2. The experience of being good at something

3. Time spent with people we like

4. The chance to be a part of something bigger

– JANE MCGONIGAL, PhD

Institute for the Future Hosted by the AAM Center for the Future of Museums,

December 2, 2008, at the Newseum, Washington, DChttp://www.slideshare.net/avantgame/gaming-the-future-of-museums-a-

lecture-by-jane-mcgonigal-presentation?nocache=4592

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The Stakes of the Museum Game of the Future

1. NOT Technology2. Interpretation & Storytelling3. Dialogue & Community4. Relevance & integration into our

audience’s lives5. Happiness