Presentation

An exhibition within an exhibition: how do the public go from reality to virtual ?

How does a virtual exhibition find its place within a traditional exhibition? How is a virtual exhibition visited? What are the uses and who are the public concerned by a virtual exhibition? How does a public that is used to visiting traditional exhibitions perceive digital works?

These questions are discussed in a usage study of an interactive terminal installed in a permanent exhibition devoted to animated images in Annecy, France, as part of the CITIA (City of moving images) project. The terminal has been designed as a multimedia space giving visitors the possibility to move around different rooms in an imaginary building full of interactive objects that give access to the works.
The interactivity presented there is like “a realistic representation of a micro-universe, sophisticated scenarios and interfaces and numerous possible routes to take” (Le Marec 1998) and shows the wish to portray an “exhibition within an exhibition” as “a micro-visit encased in a bigger visit of the exhibition” (Le Marec).