Museums have never been (so) digital

Abstract

The social distancing required by the coronavirus pandemic has increased the interest in remote activities, and the digital experiences provided by museums and other cultural institutions to promote their historical and cultural heritage have been put to the test. In a sudden change, digital experiences have become the main alternative for these institutions to perform this task. Digital catalogs, 360º videos, virtual tours, video and image collections, among others, have become more popular than ever. However, the amount of artistic production in digital formats available at museums did not meet the demand of an essentially digital audience. The interest shown at the beginning of the pandemic was sustained for only two weeks and then fell back to pre-pandemic levels. Then present essay aims at identifying factors that may have contributed to the lack of interest in digital experiences available to visitors. Additionally, it establishes relationships between these and analogous practices used in the physical spaces of cultural institutions, and specific features of the digital space. With that, we seek to encourage reflections on these experiences and support their improvement in this new context.