IN THE WORLD OF RFID Smart solutions are enhancing the management and experience of art galleries and museums...and even becoming a part of the artist s palette for creating works of art
DaVinci uncoded by David C. Wyld, Southeastern Louisiana University
I
s RFID art or science? If you ask this question around RFID industry professionals, you will certainly start an interesting debate. However, there is excitement and curiosity over RFID in the art world today, and the passion of artists and the practicality of managing ‒ and selling ‒ art is leading to some of the most exciting and innovative applications of the technology to be found in any field.
Enhancing visitor experiences and museum management Museums around the world are taking giant steps toward discovering how RFID
62
Global IDentification - July 2006
can enhance the visitor experiences viewing art and exhibits. In doing so, they are finding new ways to provide a value-add to the museum experience ‒ continuing it over time, while also simultaneously collecting valuable information for their own operations. The Tech Museum of Innovation (The Tech) in San Jose, California is quite appropriately a leader in the use of RFID to enhance the guest experience, both during and after their visit to the center. When a visitor enters The Tech, they are given a TechTag, a pre-printed, human readable wristband that contains a pre-encoded Hitachi µ-chip. During their visit to
The Tech, guests wave their wristbands in front of RFID readers at select exhibits to trigger various interactive experiences. Other American science museums have also begun implementing RFID-enabled exhibits to enhance the visitor experience. In 2001, Chicago s Museum of Science and Industry opened a permanent exhibition, NetWorld, dedicated to the Internet. Within the exhibit, visitors use NetPasses, until recently small cards with embedded Bistatix RFID chips, which in late 2006 will become LED glow-in-thedark necklaces with Rafsec RFID chips embedded on them. TagSense sensors in the exhibition detect the presence of RFID NetPasses
and call over a digital buddy to interact with visitors to foster learning about bits, bandwidth, and packet switching. Visitors can have pictures of their faces pasted onto their personal avatars so that they live forever in the exhibition. These dynamic animations personalize the experience and are always associated with their unique NetPass. Avatars pump up in body shape as visitors use their NetPass and are created without the visitor having to disclose any personal information. A similar card-based RFID system has recently been installed at San Francisco s Exploratorium.
Encouraging repeat visits All three science museums systems provide the ability for the visitor to continue their experience with the respective museum beyond that day. For example, visitors returning to NetWorld with their NetPasses are remembered and their personal avatar appears again. The Tech, meanwhile, encourages visitors to retain their TechTag wristbands as a souvenir. They can then use their unique ID code (which contains no personal information) to log onto their own personal website, which has a record of their personal visit to The Tech, offering additional online content to extend their museum experience. Repeat visitors to The Tech are encouraged to bring back their TechTags to add to their personal webpage as new and visiting ex-
hibits are added to the museum. Likewise, the system at San Francisco s Exploratorium allows visitors to not only view the static exhibits and research additional online content, but to view photographs from the day of their trip to the museum and records of any experiments they undertook while visiting the center, such as patterns of ice crystals they created in an interactive exhibit on crystals. Visitor reaction is noted to be overwhelmingly positive to such use of RFID technology to enhance and continue the visitor experience. As Grace, a 9 year-old visitor to The Tech commented, I made my own webpage. It made the museum just for me. Likewise, after field trips to these museums, schoolteachers are finding
few test locations and laboratories, it is impossible to tag both the customer and the merchandise to analyze how they move through the store and how they interact with the focal objects. However, leading art museums in the US, including both the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, have pilot-tested RFID in select exhibits have also begun using similar RFID-based exhibits. However, both major art museums are in the midst of major renovations to be completed by 2010, and in addition to enhancing patron experiences, the exhibits provide theirs and other museums using RFIDbased systems with RFIDequipped cards, necklaces or wristbands with unpar-
Tagging both the art and the patrons in a museum is a dream come true for museum management the continuing connections to be a great tool to spark students continued learning after these class outings and to facilitate the completion of post-visit assignments.
Tagging visitors While museum visitors undoubtedly enjoy valueadded benefits from RFIDequipped exhibits, the value of tagging both the art and the patrons in a museum creates a dream scenario for museum management. In retail today, outside of a
alleled levels of consumer behavior data. For instance, they can detect visitor traffic patterns to see how they progress through the museum, whether individuals or groups differ in how they make their way through the exhibits, and which items are more heavily viewed or lightly visited ‒ and for how long ‒ by patrons. This invaluable data can help create displays and pathways through both individual exhibits and the museum as a whole to improve and augment their visitor experiences. As Steve Peltzman, MOMA s chief in-
www.global-identification.com
63
In the world of RFID
formation officer recently stated, We want to enhance the art, not supplant it. The RFID in museum phenomenon is by no means exclusively an American one. Indeed, at the Museum of Natural History in Aarhus, Denmark, visitors to the Fly-
The Museum of Modern Art in New York is just one art museum to have introduced RFID-based exhibits
64
ing exhibit receive PDAs at the entrance and choose one of three modes in which to view the fifty birds on display, all of which are embedded with RFID tags. In the encyclopedia mode, a patron can access information on the bird they are viewing from the museum s website, including multimedia clips and quizzes on the animal. In the theme mode, the PDA can guide the visitor s path through the exhibition according to a number of themes, including Wings, Birds or Airplanes. Finally, in the game mode, visitors are challenged to correctly locate specific birds in the exhibit, based on series of clues provided to them on their PDA, which can then not only inform them of their progress in the game, but track their game play versus other patrons. As each visitor has to create an account and log-in
Global IDentification - July 2006
to use the RFID-enabled features of the exhibit, a record is created of their specific visit. Guests can continue their interaction with the exhibit by logging onto the museum s website after their visit. The visitor data is also of great value to the museum, as it allows exhibit curators and museum administrators to gain a great deal of insight into how their patrons actually interacted with the displays (how long at each item, order of viewing, items skipped, and so on). This allows for the museum to thoughtfully reconfigure the exhibits and add/delete items, based on this non-obtrusive manner of gathering consumer feedback on its offerings.
Managing art and museum collections Managing a collection of artwork is an asset management task with its own unique challenges, with no analogous circumstances. First, it is important in museums that the items in their collection are secured unobtrusively (let s face it, a barcode on the frame of a painting or on the foot of a sculpture can take away from the aesthetic value and integrity of the piece). Also, it can be damaging to artwork to repeatedly have to handle it for inventory-taking purposes. Thus, the contactless scanning of RFID can prevent both the wear and tear and breakage of delicate and aged works of art, many of which are irreplaceable and invaluable. Further, unlike the retail environment, where the back-
room is increasingly shrinking or disappearing, a museum s actual art collection may dwarf ‒ by a factor of 10-1 to a 100-1 ‒ that which is actually on display for public viewing at any one time. Much of a museum s collection of prints and small artifacts may be stored in drawers and files, while paintings and larger objects may be housed in onand/or off-site warehouses. For instance, The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam has implemented an RFID-based tagging system of its collection of over 15,000 paintings prints, some of which date back as far as 1400 A.D. The system replaces the former visual labeling system, and allows for contactless, continuous tracking of these irreplaceable works of art. The system allows for the tagged pieces to be identified without any handling, which can be highly detrimental to these artworks. The task of museum management is magnified by the size and scope of the collection being housed. For instance, the United Kingdom s National Science Museum has so many objects in its collection that much of its holdings are actually housed at a former air base outside London. In fact, the head of development for the museum s Wroughton site, Sally Pettipher, likened the huge hangars to the famous warehouse scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Pettipher recently stated that the museum is investigating RFID technology to help better manage its vast holdings. Finally, in a situation much like
what has been experienced by libraries that have fully implemented RFID-based inventory systems, with less personnel and staff time needing to be devoted to inventory and security efforts, more effort can be directed to value-added functions, such as education and outreach efforts. Thus, the ability of RFID to provide continual security and contactless tracking of items in a museum s inventory is a proposition that is uniquely valuable to the world of art.
Moving art in galleries One of the realities that retail art galleries face is the nature and cost of their product. In fact, their conversion rate ‒ the percentage of visitors to an art gallery who actually buy something ‒ is less than 1%, which is the lowest percentage of any form of retailing. According to Michael Zammuto, the president of Sapago, a Delray Beach, Floridabased RFID solutions provider, Art galleries are the most extreme example of retailing, (as) no one wants to show interest in a piece only to be told it cost $5 million and that they can t afford. By installing RFID-based systems, which allow visitors to access information ‒ and prices - on pieces of art as they stroll about the gallery through the use of specially-equipped PDAs today ‒ and on their cell phones in the near future. From the perspective of Lorene Albert, the co-owner of Granite State MetalWorks in Littleton, New Hampshire, who has installed Sapago s Art-FID system in her
gallery, Most people find art too intimidating to ask questions, and one extra sale could pay for the system many times over. Thus, art galleries will be perhaps one of the most ready markets in retail for item-level tagging of their inventory.
RFID in art and as art Meghan Trainor is a New York City artist who is beginning to embed her plaster and rubber sculptures with RFID chips. From her perspective, the idea of objects no longer being anonymous is incredible to someone who makes objects. Trainor calls her tagged
cations. Its most noteworthy project to date has been the Interactive Hats exhibit. The goal of the project was to look at the possibilities for combining RFID technology and multimedia for entertainment purposes. Specifically, the audio-visual experience allows the patron to control the flash animation he is seeing by choosing from a collection of hats on a table, which have built-in RFID readers. The exhibit was first installed at the Royal Academy and then later exhibited at the RFID Journal Live European Conference in October 2005. Concerns over RFID and pri-
The ability of RFID to provide continual contactless item tracking is uniquely valuable to the art world sculptures spime , due to the fact that her creations can be tracked through space and time. Trainor is by no means alone in her quest to make use of RFID in art, as the tracking features of RFID are becoming the focus of creativity ‒ and subversion - in the art world. The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague has established the RFID-Lab, whose mission is to investigate the implementation of RFID technology in art, design and entertainment industry with a focus on non-profit as well as commercial projects of interactive installations, multimedia presentations, augmented reality games, tangible interfaces, wearable media and other ubiquitous computing appli-
vacy are sparking artists who seek to rebel against the technology to use RFID in their art. Last year, Houston hosted a show titled, Thought Crimes: The Art of Subversion . The multimedia show took on a wide variety of subjects, including globalism, geopolitics ‒ and RFID technology. The show s curator, Diane Barber of DiverseWorks, described the display as a cavalcade of artwork that runs the gamut from pranks and stunts to images and objects that aim to subvert America s reigning political and corporate regimes. The goal of the show was to present visitors with a welcome respite in our increasingly brave new world. One of the targets of the show was Wal-Mart. In a display en-
www.global-identification.com
65
In the world of RFID
titled Zapped , DiverseWorks artists not only displayed information about RFID and the retailer s plans for it, they included what one critic hailed as the installation s subversive masterstroke ‒ RFID-tagged roaches. The artists encouraged patrons to take the roaches ‒ a common pest in the Houston area - away with them in Styrofoam coffee cups to let them loose in their local Wal-Mart, in a subversive effort to taint the retailer s RFID systems. Likewise, last October, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art held an event titled the RFID Tracking Party. When patrons arrived at the museum for the party, they were given wearable RFID tags. Throughout the evening, guests could track both themselves and
other patrons on screens located throughout the museum. This event led to mixed reactions on the part of partygoers who were new to the technology. One blogged that: While we re okay with temporarily sacrificing our privacy for art ̶ or for a few free drinks ̶ we sort of hope we don t see too many more parties like this. Part of the fun of a night out is to just find someplace to chill, kick back and forget where you are, and somehow constantly being reminded of your location and status takes at least some of the fun out of it.
The creation of a new science It is indeed an exciting time for RFID in the art world.
While artists are simultaneously testing the limits of the technology for use in art as a creative tool and a subversive force, art museums and galleries are looking to RFID as a way to enhance and continue their patrons experiences and generate more interest in both art and their institutions. In the end, opposites may indeed attract, as creative artists and savvy managers and curators may be at the forefront of creating new science through the art of RFID. Their creations may create new ways of using the technology and new best practices that can be benchmarked by organizations ‒ from retail to theme parks ‒ to enhance the way we shop and dine and the way we explore a whole host of venues.
RFID as performance art Nancy Nisbet, an assistant professor of Visual Arts at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, kicked off a 6-9 month performance art project, entitled Exchange 2006. Her goals in the project are to confront issues of free trade; critique the use of RFID surveillance and the risk of privacy infringement; and examine issues of identity through an exchange of personal belongings. Nisbet s performance art has her taking all of her possessions, which she has tagged and inventoried with RFID, and personally trucking them in a shipping container which she will drive throughout the NAFTA countries of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. During her months on the road, she will trade her RFID-tagged possessions with locals in planned exhibits and unplanned encounters along the way. She states that: The trades are more about a sharing experience, sharing the stories of the items; the generation of a community based on the idea of exchange. I could trade my television set for an old set of sneakers, or something. I m taking everything I own ‒ my microwave, my bed, my books, the whole deal. Nisbet claims that: I m certainly not anti-RFID, but it s being pushed forward by so many powerful things ‒ primarily economic, at the moment ‒ so I think society needs to think about how we want to handle this technology. People deserve to know about it and understand how it works and understand where some risks might be and where the risks aren t. This unusual performance art project, funded in part through a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, will continue throughout the remainder of 2006.
66
Global IDentification - July 2006