Redefining the museum experience

Used for experiential, curation and analytical purposes at museums, AI might also be used for security after the Louvre theft

- SREYA DEB

ADIGITALMUSEUM displaying 240 missing artefacts from 46 countries was launched at the end of Septemberthis yearat UNESCO's annual conference on cultural police in Barcelona, Spain.

Holding objects restored through artificial intelligence, this Al museumallows visitors to view, learn about and inspect these objects through AI tools in the interface. What's even more interesting about this museum is that the goalisto have the countries of origin of all these objects reclaim their artefacts in time. It has not been opened for public viewing yet, nor has adate been announced.

The digital visual structure of the museum created by Pritzker Prizewinning architect Fracis Kéré is in the shape of a baobab tree, and holds the Stolen Cultural Objects Gallery, the Auditorium, and the Return and Restitution Room, where one scrolls from animal fossils and statues to idolsand paintings, whichare searchable by name, material, function,and colour.

Whilea first-of-its-kind initiative inarte-fact restoration by UNESCO, it wouldn't be the first time museums have leveraged Al to make not only thevisitors'experience richer, but also to make curation, study and record keeping more effective.