(In-)Between Spaces: Challenges in Defining the Experience of Space in Mixed Reality Art Exhibitions

Abstract

Technology-driven design can support the creation of storytelling experiences that offer innovative ways of transmitting knowledge and information. Against the backdrop of criticisms by museums’ and art galleries’ visitors,’ who demand more participatory approaches in exhibitions’ design, new technologies have also emerged as tools for making art relevant again, and making museums and galleries hybrid places where the virtual and digital aspects of stories can be combined with corresponding physical artefacts. Observing people's reactions and behaviours in those hybrid environments requires an examination of the ways in which they engage with space in the process of meaning-making, by changing and adapting the space to suit their means.Theoretical literature has thoroughly parsed the concept of space, but in the context of mixed-reality experience design, it has become hazy again. In the article, we explore practitioners’ views on the ontological issues with defining experience space and discuss its in-betweenness, inseparability and unrealness.