Implementation of latest multimedia technology in interpreting and communicating the ethnographic heritage of ASTRA Museum

ASTRA VR is the latest addition to the largest open air museum in Europe, ASTRA Museum, telling various stories related to obsolete professions in the region. The project aimed to reconvert a static museum area using multimodal storytelling and participatory experiences mediated by the local rural communities: intuitive display, doll house perspective or immersive VR experiences into century old rural love stories, comic strips printed on wood boards presenting snapshots of crafts and occupations that are no longer familiar to the contemporary visitors and radio drama or overlay interventions for adding emotion and human touch to the interpretative experience. In designing the storyboards and orientation system we opted for non-invasive reversible elements that would rather enhance the museum’s physical environment, balancing between discretion and effectiveness in conveying the message, revealing a variety of cultural contexts about the exhibits and boosting the identity of the place.