DAM Technology

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Overview

The Touch of the Brush table is designed as a multi-user interactive installation that’s entirely self-contained and requires a minimum of maintenance. We had three general goals in developing the experience:

• Have an alternate means of displaying artworks that might not appear in all three venues
• Allow visitors to quickly and easily compare and contrast the brushwork details of selected works in the show
• Create a social environment that encourages multiple visitors to interact and engage at the same time

The premise of the exhibition is to make direct comparisons between the old masters and the impressionists that followed, showing that a great deal of the impressionist work is very derivative of the work done by the old masters. To that end, the table is designed to let visitors directly compare the brushwork and techniques of ten works from the show, 3 old masters and 7 impressionist artworks. The overall experience is intended to be quick, easy to use, and deliberately intuitive, with there being no “incorrect” interaction with the content of the table. Along the left side of the table is a menu of thumbnails of all of the works available for review. When an artwork is selected by touching a thumbnail, a larger version is displayed on the right-side of the screen. Wherever visitors touch the larger version of the artwork, a magnification circle appears around their fingertip displaying a detailed view of the point under their finger. Visitors can simply touch individual points, touch and drag their circle across the artwork, and more than one user can explore and discuss at the same time.