Displace is a museum technology concept, aiming to bring the artefacts and specimen more alive, "opening the glass box". With using "pepper's ghost" (blending spaces with see through mirror), it gives the user a seeming access to the object.

The interaction is very simple, as is the technology, giving the user an extremely intuitive way of exploring the contents of the exhibit.

The glass box, traditionally providing protection to the museum objects, separating them from the visitor space, becomes an active part of the interface, maintaining the familiar aesthetic, but letting the viewers to see even further into the exhibits.

The system's principal uses are in contextualising information in different levels. In order to compare two different layers of information, be it temporal, spatial or structural, one can "cut" a little piece of one layer and paste it into the context of the other. This way the content can be always seen in a meaningful reference frame, rather than in a void. For example, in architectural exhibits, looking at the changing urban landscape over time, "displace" can reveal what the changes really mean in local context. Rather than having either the past or the present, the spaces can be blend into one, and the user can explore how specific locations have transformed.

A step further, adding digital information to the system takes the concept even further, enabling it to embed background information, textual and auditive descriptions, different textures and colours to the real artefacts. The mirror the user can move can be flipped over, when instead of seeing another layer of the real model, it becomes a little projection screen, where information about the location where it casts its shadow can be displayed. The user can be "guided" along different paths in the model, giving further understanding of its workings rather than just being a static model.

exposure:
NESTA Future Product in Science Museum. | 2003-10-04 12:19:46
Nesta future product award | 2002-07-12 13:34:52
RCA Show 2002 | 2002-06-11 23:31:57