A Social Project is a space for discussing and sharing experiences from and around social media and its future platforms, it uses the museum as its core medium. Employing various other mediums around it such as Virtual Reality, Publication, Social media, and AR, the project seeks to dematerialize the traditional museum, making it accessible and inclusive. By utilizing A Social workshop, this museum invites social media users to collaborate in creating 3D objects that populate the virtual museum.
Unlike physical objects, the museum's artefacts exist only within the digital realm, enabling them to transcend physical and geographical limitations. Participants involved in crafting these objects engage in discussions and generate prompts, followed by an induction process that equips them with the necessary skills for digital object creation. Through its workshop structure, this project fosters a space for dialogue, learning, and the exchange of experiences.
The project's goal is twofold: first, to harness the potential of available technology and expand the creative possibilities of individual authorship; and second, to establish a framework that allows the project to endure independently of its original author once initiated.
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MediumsVirtual reality still being a considerably new technology, requires certain level of equipment to access. So in order to overcome this technological hindrance the project also takes shape in a few physical formats.
While the virtual museum serves as the project's primary medium, "A Social Project" also integrates traditional media of publishing and augmented reality.
A Modular PublicationThe publication contains detailed explanation about the project itself and the objects within the museum. Using the standardized format provides the audience to focus in on the objects.
The publication is fused with Augmented reality to help the audience of this publication to view the 3d objects through their phones placed a top the publication, with the audience being inducted about its usage at the beginning of the publication. This capability can be used by anyone having access to Instagram, existing as a filter the audience can use it by going to a_social museums Instagram page. Scanning any of the red pages within the publication would allow for the objects to materialize on the users phone screens.
The binder format of the publication is used to create a modular structure, enabling the expansion of the publication as new objects come around. This publication forms an integral part of the collection of mediums designed to transcend the boundaries of a traditional museum and challenge its default constructs.
Riso printed map of the VR MuseumAR Scannable Trading Cards
Workshop as a way of populating the MuseumA Social Workshop serves as a pivotal component within this project, playing a vital role in the establishment of the Museum. The workshop adopts a comprehensive three-step approach, fostering insightful discussions regarding social networking platforms, their impact on individuals, the possibilities they offer, and the challenges they present. Furthermore, participants are introduced to 3D modelling software, a technique employed in constructing the Metaverse—an emerging technology that may succeed existing social platforms. The culmination of the workshop involves translating these discussions into a prompt, which subsequently informs the creation of captivating 3D objects. The workshop hosted a total of 16 participants to date.
Flowchart of the curation process
Participants, during the first round of workshops, hard at work on their sculptures
A Social Museum is open The Virutal museum welcomed it first set of visitors during the CSM Graduate Showcase 2023. Folks came in wanting to experience the stories about social media that the participants poured into their sculptures. These first set of visitors also provided with feedback that looped back into making the experience better.