Akura Makea-Pardington - Latent space: Visitor-generated 3D Scans in Museums
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 2017-11-28

Tuesday, November 21 • 16:10 - 16:17

The democratisation of digital technologies and museum collections is opening access to a global network of museum-generated data and museum-held objects on a scale which is both challenging to monitor and conceptually daunting. 

Museums are now allocating significant funds into cataloguing and digitisation projects that enrich Online Collection databases concurrently with innovations in exhibition design and philosophy within museum walls. An emphasis is placed on the removal and mitigation of physical and sensory barriers that can disrupt visitor experience. The resultant unobstructed view of museum objects on display becomes the latent space where both the digital and physical museum/object coalesces. 
How can museums future proof policy and cultural framework protecting museum objects under the omnipotent presence of digital technologies that are simultaneously advancing and increasingly free? Smartphones are now discreet powerful devices, housing high resolution cameras and capable of operating sophisticated 3D scanning apps. No longer are these technologies only accessible to institutions, the wealthy or technologically inclined, but to the ‘everyman’.

This level of immediate and open access to museum collections has been celebrated as a deconstruction of the cultural and academic elitism that has long plagued the public’s perception of museums.

But what happens when the integrity of collection objects and a museum’s role as kaitiaki is ethically compromised by visitor-generated digital content such as 3D scans, which is then disseminated across digital platforms?

This exploratory talk seeks to generate conversation about the future of museum policy, cultural framework and conditions of entry when a camera flash and tripod are no longer physical indicators of a visitor’s intent to produce high resolution representations or captures of museum collections.

Akura Makea-Pardington
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Pictorial Collection Development Technican
Akura Makea-Pardington was born in Auckland. She is of Maori (Ngāi Tahu, Kati Mamoe and Ngāti Kahungunu) and Scottish (Clan Cameron of Erracht) descent and is a pictorial collection development technican at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Museum, as well as a Diploma in Art History. She is currently studying towards a Post-Graduate Diploma of Museum Studies at Massey University.