Technology is helping The Barnes Foundation bring its collection to more people, writes Sarah Huffman for Technical.ly.
The museum’s vast collection has joined the digital age. With the Virtual Experience Platform, students in its educational programming can already visit the artwork up close in 360 degrees..
With the platform, Claude Monet’s brushstrokes can be viewed up close. A Pierre-Auguste Renoir sculpture can be viewed from every angle.
The platform is now being offered to the Penn Museum for $37,000 in annual fees for its online classes.
“The long-term health of museums does depend on how well you’re able to get your unique platform and message out there,” said Steven Brady, deputy director for digital initiatives and chief technology officer at the Barnes Foundation. “We always saw it as something that was able to sustain us, and we thought [it] could be a really big positive for other institutions.”
The Penn Museum is the first to partner with Barnes to license the technology. It will implement VXP for two virtual programs in the fall, Deep Dig and Archaeology in Action.
The platform expands to include an online version of its collection, featuring scanned high-resolution photos.
Find out more about the Barnes Foundation Virtual Experience Platform in Technical.ly.
