[Artbeyondsightmuseums] Food for Thought: What We can Learn from Kids Toys

[Tina Hansen]

Just the other day, I was at my local mall so I could beat the heat. While there, I happened to look in the children's department in several stores. I noticed that there were a number of kids' books that included sounds which added to the story. There were some buttons on a cover of the book, and they were clearly defined to make it easier for the child to press them.

While the sound quality was poor, it did make me think: Can we find a way to do something like this with art? Maybe the audio could be improved so that a user could either play it aloud or through a headset for privacy.

It made me wonder if it was possible to place recording technology inside a poster of a painting so the user could explore a painting with running commentary. I understand that new technology is being developed to do just that.

Has anyone seen what I'm talking about? Thanks.