Digital technology has become an integral part of our everyday lives. So it was only a matter of time before the ways people interact with the past and ancient artefacts in museum settings became digital, too.
The problem is that technology can be extremely expensive. Many museums just don’t have the funding to obtain, develop and maintain fancy devices or interactive digital gadgets. Some big European and North American museums, which receive millions of visitors each year, have been able to afford virtual reality (VR) and various other digital technologies. These are an appealing and popular element of the visitor experience.
For example, you can tour the British Museum in London using VR. Visitors to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC can download an app to experience one of the exhibits in VR.
More digital avenues are being added to South Africa’s museums – and now the country has its first full VR exhibit. It will launch at the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg on 25 September and will take visitors on a journey through hundreds of thousands of years of human history, art and innovation. I am a Middle Stone Age archaeologist and ochre specialist, and have been part of the team putting the exhibit together over the past four months.
