Temporary exhibits consistently offer:

• Clearer and more focused storytelling
• More deliberate use of limited resources
• Reduced long term operational risk

These outcomes are not incidental. They result directly from how temporary projects are planned, designed, and executed.

The limits of permanent exhibits

The longevity of permanent exhibits creates immediate constraints. Content must remain accurate far into the future, which often leads to cautious and generic messaging. Visual design and hardware are selected for durability rather than adaptability. Over time, this results in exhibits that feel dated while still occupying valuable floor space.

Permanent exhibits introduce recurring challenges:

• Messaging is written to avoid change rather than address it
• Hardware prioritises robustness over flexibility
• Visual language ages while the exhibit remains fixed

During museum visits, we frequently encounter broken interactives marked with out of order signs, outdated graphics, or screens that no longer function. Maintenance is rarely planned in detail or properly budgeted. Original suppliers of interactive applications may no longer exist, and custom software becomes impossible to update. The exhibit remains, but its message stops working. How effective is an exhibit that cannot be repaired or refreshed?

Flexibility and relevance of temporary exhibits

Temporary exhibits allow museums to respond to current topics and changing audiences. Messaging can be direct and timely. Visual language can be more contemporary because the lifespan is limited to six, twelve, or at most twenty four months. This reduces institutional risk and lowers the threshold for approval.

Because the commitment is shorter, museums gain room to experiment:

• New narrative structures can be tested
• Experimental layouts become acceptable
• Unfamiliar or urgent topics can be addressed

If an approach proves effective, it can inform future projects. If not, the exhibit ends without long lasting consequences. This feedback loop is difficult to achieve with permanent installations.

Budget as a design tool for temporary exhibits

Temporary exhibits usually come with tighter budgets. Rather than lowering quality, this constraint improves decision making. Teams are forced to identify what truly matters to the story. Non essential elements are removed early in the process, and resources are spent where they directly support the visitor experience.

Tighter budgets create clarity:

• Core messages are defined earlier
• Decorative choices are questioned
• Production decisions become purposeful

Large budgets often slow projects down. Materials and technologies are selected because they appear premium, not because they add value. Decision making becomes fragmented, and focus drifts. With temporary exhibits, every component must justify its presence.

Wooden structures can be disassembled, relocated and reused

Render from the design process

Wooden lattice to support information boards

Responsible production

Another advantage lies in how temporary exhibits are designed and built. We prioritise structures that can be disassembled, reused, or recycled after closing. Components are intended for future use rather than disposal. This reduces waste and prevents storage spaces or landfills from filling up with single use materials.

For a recent project at De Bastei in Nijmegen on how microplastics enter river ecosystems, these choices were deliberate. In practice, this meant:

• Cardboard prints for information panels
• Wooden structures designed for reuse
• Projectors for storytelling instead of single use screens

The goal was to minimise plastic waste, which was especially relevant for an exhibition addressing the environmental impact of plastic pollution.

Temporary exhibits show that shorter lifespans do not result in lower quality. They support relevance, clarity, and responsible use of resources. For many museums, they provide a practical way to communicate with audiences in the present.

Meet the Merry Fiddler

This painting seemed like an obvious subject for this prototype for a simple reason. When I first moved to the Netherlands, this painting was hanging in the hallway outside of my apartment. I always liked the warm expression on the musician’s face as he welcomed me home each day.

teaming up with Wintor

First, we needed a proof of concept. We collaborated with the team at Wintor, developers of an augmented reality tour app, to experiment with their software and see how far we could take this concept. We set up a prototype on location in a former metalworking factory in Hilversum, kindly offered to us by Fabrique Ludique.

the process

The video below documents the process we took in making the prototype.

In the weeks leading up to the on-site tests, we prepared the assets. This started with downloading a digital copy of Gerard van Honthorst’s 1623 painting from the Rijksmuseum’s online public catalogue. Using Photoshop, we segmented the painting into layers, taking advantage of the amazing new generative fill options offered in the more recent Photoshop updates. We researched the painting’s history, studied why van Honthorst chose his subject, and learned the significance of the artwork in the context of genre painting.

This became the basis for a short script, allowing the painting’s subject to speak for himself. We animated the different body parts of the Merry Fiddler using text-to-speech tools and face tracking software. We even imbued him with a slightly Italian accent in honour of the setting of the painting. This was possible thanks to Elevenlab’s latest multilanguage options.

In After Effects, we combined all the elements—voice, face tracking video, and animated layers of the body—creating a 3D scene extending beyond the frame of the painting. The scene we made became a representation a 17th-century Italian piazza and an atmospheric setting to learn about this painting.

We uploaded this scene to YouTube as a 360° video that you can watch below. 

Moreover, we designed an interactive VR experience. This virtual environment enabling users to explore the environment with 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF), incorporating 3D UI elements and spatial audio to enhance the storytelling.

evaluating this interactive experience

Importantly, I should acknowledge that this was just a prototype. It was made on a tight research budget, using free versions of AI software, resulting in the somewhat clunky AI voices offered by these free trials. If we had a serious project and a party that wished to invest in this concept, I am fully confident we could make an exceptional exhibit or interactive VR experience. The resulting experience could include an AR tour with talking paintings running on visitor devices (of course powered with Wintor AR). Or if there was a bigger budget or the space for an VR exhibit, the resulting experience could be a stand-alone interactive VR exhibition that could be placed in a museum parallel to the physical versions of the paintings.

Each different implementation has its specific strengths and best fits specific conditions. Despite the differences, these experiences share something essential, they do not try to replace the beauty or value of the original artworks—they celebrate them by combining the warmth of human voices, the magic of high-tier animation, and the atmospheric settings created by sound design and 3D modelling.

how museums could benefit

For museums interested in developing a virtual collection that parallels their physical one, these concepts introduce entirely new ways for visitors to experience artwork and engage with art history. This is actually ideal. The best results would come from an experience curated by museums using scripts written by art historians, voiced by talented voice actors, and tied together with beautiful sound design and 3D modelling. This would be an modern interpretation that remains true to the original works . The digital museum exhibits could be site specific or become VR experiences downloaded to run people’s own VR/XR devices, no matter the location.

next steps for this interactive experience

Looking ahead, we have future goals for this project. We aim to develop a character AI model based on The Merry Fiddler, allowing users to engage in real-time unscripted conversations back and forth with their voices, like guided art tour chatbot. Also, we know that this next step in this process opens a new world of challenges, both technical and ethical. So for now, the scripted prompts of question and answer that we experimented with works good enough.  Also, importantly, the scripted nature of the questions and answers gives museums control over the narratives presented by these characters, guaranteeing information that is factual and researched. Not manufactured by the black box of AI and unsubstantiated.

We are hoping that museums and visitor centres will recognize that this new way of storytelling can resonate with the next generation of museum-goers, presenting a modern way for conveying information to an audience. Bring art to life using new technical solutions can help keep these artworks relevant and enjoyable to all visitors.

If you or your organization would like to develop an interactive experience like the one created for the Merry Fiddler, be sure to reach out to us here.

You must have heard the question before, “If you could have a dinner party with any three historical figures, who would you invite?” Would it be Albert Einstein? Maybe you prefer the company of Leonardo Da Vinci or Nicola Tesla? Frida Kahlo or Florence Nightingale? Would you request a tyrant, an artist, a humanitarian or a war hero? 

This thought experiment recently became not so far-fetched of an idea. This is what we can soon expect; applications and exhibits that give these famous characters from history a second life. They will talk to us on our devices, welcoming us in the halls of museums and art galleries. We will hear their voices read passages from their written works. They will tell us stories from their lives and the times they lived. We are in the beginning of a new age—the age of the digital resurrection. This might sound like the plot of a Black Mirror episode. But its true. Soon these AI-driven replicas will guide many experiences for us, for better or worse. They will live among us. 

For more than a year, our team at MoMoLab has researched the possibilities. We considered ways to combine history, folklore and art with modern technology, storytelling, and game design. We planned new experiences incorporating digital avatars into our projects. In this process, we developed some exciting new concepts for interactive experiences allowing visitors the chance to interact with characters from the past. Imagine having full dialogues with people from the past. It will mean history brought back to life. We studied how historical figures could be given 3D faces, bodies and clothing, and more importantly, personalities, replete with voices, backstories, and gestures. We tested each step in making this type of experience as robust and enjoyable as possible, and pitched the idea to interested clients. 

It turns out we were on to something. In the past six months this concept, which at one time seemed prohibitively expensive, complicated, and time-consuming to develop, is now possible. In fact, it is relatively simple to implement (albeit still time-consuming) with the use of readily available tools and software. 

The rise of digital avatars 

The biggest steps forward in this new medium have been in online marketing and customer relations. Since we started our research, an entirely new industry has popped up offering real-time avatars. These services offer avatars to improve online visitor engagement and to drive sales. The common use case is for these avatars is as the face on company websites, used as approachable sales assistants. These avatars are the latest iteration of interactive chat bots, answering queries and assisting with online navigation. Other services, such as HeyGen, are promoting digital avatars as video presenters, giving marketing teams the chance to type copy text and render out videos with surprisingly convincing voices and gestures—all while saving a small fortune on video production costs. 

Other software-as-a-service companies specializing in real time avatars, like Uneeq, claim these avatars improve the user experience. Uneeq claims their clients recorded a 350% increase in online visitor engagement due to these live avatars. They also claim they double the rate of conversation between visitors and chatbot. These numbers are incredibly attractive to many businesses. While it seems that much of the heightened engagement stems from the peoples’ interest in a new shiny toy, it is apparent that many find this technology compelling. Having tested it out myself, I can attest to how persuasive it is. It is far more interesting to speak directly with these avatar chatbots and get realistic answers in return rather than typing text bubbles.

All signs point to this trend continuing. This is especially true as the technology used to generate these digital avatars, voices and gestures become ever more convincing. These types of generative characters will soon be pervasive in our world. They will be business ambassadors to improve visitor engagement. Game studios will develop them while striving for the most unique and immersive games. And even individuals will spend their time with them longing for synthetic companionship. The eerie and slightly dystopian future depicted in films like Her is now a reality, with all the messiness you might come to expect. 

AI models in history museum exhibits 

Shortly after we mapped out the necessary steps to develop our concept for historical characters brought to life, a startup in France called Jumbo Mana, presented a version of this same idea. They launched an exhibit at Viva Technology 2023 along with art historian, Dr Wouter van der Veen, called “Hello Vincent.” This project allowed visitors to have (almost) real-time conversations with a digital representation of Vincent van Gogh.

Tech news circles celebrated Hello Vincent as a great leap forward in generative AI. This project then moved to Musée d’Orsay in Paris. There the digital facsimile of Vincent van Gogh gives museum visitors an entirely new way to interact with the art and history of this artist. This digital twin was built on an AI model composed of details from his life, a database of his real letters, and his catalogue of artwork. The results, while not perfect, show the power and scope of this concept. It also poses some new concerns that deserve discussion. 

How real can these digital twins be? 

Now that digital avatars from history are in museums near you, there are some ethical considerations that need addressing. Such avatars, though constructed with meticulous detail, are inherently incomplete representations. They rely on fragments of a full and complicated life story. These avatars built on language models which, despite their sophistication, inevitably inject interpretations, assumptions, and even errors into the portrayals. In truth, this is no different than the issues surrounding biopics depicting historical figures. Just as Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in a biopic is a skilled interpretation rather than an exact replication, so too are digital avatars mere interpretative representations. They embody the fusion of historical research and creative interpretation. They exist primarily for entertainment rather than as true reflections of reality. This is how they should be evaluated, as interesting portrayals of historical figures and new mediums for storytelling, not 1:1 recreations. 

The interactive experiences centred on digital avatars may be avoided and even chastised by many museums that pride themselves on accuracy of the historical record. This accuracy is often more important than the entertainment and interactions of guests. In many academic circles and archaeological institutions, the emphasis is on looking at the hard facts. This type of experience takes too many liberties for conservative organisations. But for other museums or visitor centres, these interactions might be the perfect vehicles to convey crucial information and inspire visitor engagement.  

Still despite all the progress, many of these avatars are still creepy. The Uncanny Valley factor is still a major obstacle of the wide-scale adoption of these types of interactive experiences. Right now, even the best facsimiles still have a certain stiffness and repetitiveness to their movements. Their facial expressions makes them feel fake and lifeless. They often fall short and become poor interpretations of what it is to be human. Currently it remains a challenge to find that right space between realism and stylistic interpretation. Often the best results for these experiences are from art directions that do not strive for realism. Aiming for stylized representations often works best. 

The uncanny valley effect is a hypothesized psychological and aesthetic relation between an object’s degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object. Examples of the phenomenon exist among robotics, 3D computer animations and lifelike dolls.

Wikipedia 

On top of the visual obstacles, there are still issues with making real-time reactivity between the users and the digital avatars. The amount of computing power required to make these experiences happen with as little latency as possible cannot be ignored. The faster the applications, the more expensive and resource-heavy it will be. This does not consider the energy needed to power all the data centres humming away while processing these language models. There is a cost to generative AI that is currently eclipsed by its techno-optimistic promises. 

Another major obstacle to the true-to-life quality of these exhibits is the data wrangling needed to make each digital twin. An incredible amount of data is required for training models to form the backbone of the realistic personalities. A historical figure’s body of work needs to be collected; a large part of what they wrote; what was written about them; the historical context from the time they lived. It will take a discerning eye, a new form of historiography, to make these characters feel true to the real people. Without this attention to detail, the ChatGPT and other LLM will take many liberties. In the end all the characters generated will sound and think alike. There is also a chance that the less flattering parts of these historical figures’ lives may be scrubbed from the model’s database to hide the warts of the past. 

Coming to an exhibit near you 

Despite all the complications and potential pitfalls, we at MoMoLab remain fascinated by this concept. Our AI creations will someday soon take centre stage of an exhibit near you. This idea is still central to many of our plans. Our team is looking for the best approaches forward, ironing out the details to bring such a character to life. We are finding the best ways to depict history in an educational, informative, and interesting way. All the while, we will preface the inherently incomplete nature of our recreations. Now is the time to see how this new form of storytelling can add new context to historical works. 

For more information on the subject, reach out to our team. Or if you wish to consider other ways digital twins can improve the experience of your history exhibition, send us an email or call.