Pokémon Go swept the world in 2016. Today, augmented reality is both an artistic choice and an experiential expectation for many museum patrons. From the Smithsonian Institution’s “Skin and Bones” app to various cities around the globe inserting historical overlays to city streets, augmented reality has become part of the lexicon of museum managers and audiences. AR, as it is commonly known, has an impact on the organization’s infrastructure and its overall business and operational structure. To wit, the Knight Foundation analyzed how museums are adapting to digital demands and discovered that is “vast” and “complicated.”
The following collection offers articles and essays to provide a perspective on how museums are using augmented reality and similar digital disruptions. These works are culled from the work of contributors working for the Arts Management and Technology Laboratory, a Research Center of Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University.