Explorations and Implications of the Development of

Immersive Art for Museum Art Education：

The National Education Museum as an example

ZHANG ZHIWEI

student number：22092974

Professor DR. ROSLINA ISMAIL

Art Education

30.Jan.2023
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Abstracts

The study of museum education in the context of immersive art is a challenging topic.

Immersive art has gone through numerous stages of development since the 20th century, and

now VR technology has expanded to more scenarios, and has sparked heated debates in the

museum field as well. But what does “immersive art” mean for museum education? The

museum is not only a collection of cultural relics and research institutions, but also an

important force in the social and public cultural service system. How to better develop

education based on immersive art museums is an enduring thought with the development of

society.

Based on the background of the development of immersive art, this paper considers

the integration of the concept of “purposeless learning” with museum education. Taking the

audience experience as the main body of research on museum education, and using the

National Education Museum as a carrier, the paper explores and reflects on museum art

education in an interdisciplinary manner by combining the theories of communication

studies, pedagogy, and psychology. In this paper, we focus on the development direction of

museum education, expanding the way of museum education and promoting the rational

development and effective use of museum education resources.

This paper takes the National Education Museum as the main research, interprets the

connotation and characteristics of museum education, bases on the existing research results,

and researches from the development of immersive art, theories related to museum education,

analyses the status quo of museum education activities, and the development trend of

museum education in four aspects. We consider the problems of museum education at the
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present stage, and thus put forward the suggestions for the future development of museum

education: enhancing the interactive experience in the museum, enriching the educational

themes, and immersive exhibition design.

Keywords: museum, immersive art, interactive experience

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Introduction

1.1 Research background

As the number of museums worldwide continues to increase, “showing the whole

world” is the latest trend in the development of museums. Many museums, including art

museums, have assumed an essential role in art education while meeting the people's growing

spiritual and cultural needs. More and more audiences are willing to enter museums, which

are widely visited by the general public. In contrast, museums in various countries have put

“education” at the forefront of their functions.1

1.2 Purpose and significance of the study

With the development of the times, museums have also moved from “collection-

centred” to “audience experience-centred”, paying more attention to service. 2 The

significance of this thesis lies in the fact that through the research of the thesis, it is clear that

the positioning of museum education function and the future development direction of

museum education are being considered. The significance of this thesis is to define the

functional position of museum education, think about the future development direction of

museum education through the thesis research, and promote the diversified and diverse

development of museum

1
Jixiang Shan, "Social Responsibility and Social Education of Museums," Southeast Culture,
no.6 (2010): 9-16.
2
Jixiang Shan, "Museum of social responsibility and social development, “Sichuan cultural
relics 1(2011):3-18.
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education.The significance of this thesis is, firstly, to define the function of museum

education,consider the future development direction of museum education through this thesis,

and promote the diversified and diversified development of museum education.3Secondly,

combining the actual development of immersive art, innovating museum education methods

and seeking breakthroughs in museum education modes. Finally, explore the new mode of

museum education, make up for the shortcomings of museum education at this stage, and

provide feasible suggestions for museums to plan educational activities. Improve the

utilisation value of museums and the quality of educational services.

3
YueShan Dai, "Visitor centered design in contemporary art museum. Research on the
interactive development trend and digital strategy of contemporary art museum"(Master diss,
Polytechnic of Milan, 2018).
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Chapter 2: The Development of Immersive Arts

The “flow theory” was first proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor of

psychology at the University of Chicago, and has since been gradually refined as a cognitive

psychology theory. Mihaly found that when people are fully involved in something, they will

not perceive their existence, and called this wholly immersed in the activity to achieve the

most satisfying experience, “immersion experience” Immersion makes people forget about

fatigue and hunger and keep exploring until they reach their goal.4

The immersion theory was first used in the practical training of language teaching.

Since then, scholars have conducted related studies on immersion behaviour and revised its

definition to fit the context better. As a civilised product of humanistic society, art is

inevitably related to the characteristics of the times at any period. In the current era of rapid

development of science and technology, modern technology and traditional art and culture

will inevitably collide and produce sparks. Consequently, the dissemination and display of the

art world will be subverted - “immersive” art is such a form of expression born in the context

of such an era. Immersive art is born in this context. Immersive art has a wide range of

applications: film, theatre, art exhibitions, installations, VR/AR and so on. With the

development of digital technology and the continuous integration of art and technology, the

use and presentation of immersive art in exhibitions is becoming more and more common,

such as the "Rain Room" exhibition at the Yu Deyao Museum in 2015, the “Van Gogh's

Bedroom” exhibition at the Chicago Art Museum in 2017, and so on—exhibition at the

4
Nakamura Jeanne and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, "Flow theory and research," in Handbook
of positive psychology,ed. Charles Richard Snyder and Shane J. Lopez (Oxford university
press, 2001),195-206.
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Chicago Art Museum in 2017, etc. Immersive art is officially moving towards the museum

field.
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Chapter 3: Theories related to museum education

The etymological root of “museum” comes from the Greek word “mouseion”. Only

some museums had openness and publicity. However, during the development of museums in

the past hundred years, museums have gradually assumed the function of social edification.

Their functions and concepts have constantly been changing, undergoing the cultural

connotation evolution of “publication”, “socialization”, and “mediatization”, witnessing the

rising status of the educational function of museums. Its functions and concepts have also

been changing, experiencing the evolution of cultural connotations of “public”, “social”, and

“media”, witnessing the rising status of the museum's educational function.

The origins of 'museum education' remain controversial, with Stenfeld suggesting that

the Louvre was the first museum. However, the Belvedere in Vienna opened more than a

decade before the Louvre. The Belvedere's first curators shortened the exhibition programme

to allow visitors to stay longer and admire the works of art, a style considered ideal for

teaching purposes. The first curator of the Belvedere shortened the entries to allow visitors to

stay longer to appreciate the artefacts, a style well-known in Europe then and considered

ideal for exhibitions with a pedagogical purpose.5Museum education has undergone a

hundred years of development, which can be roughly divided into three stages: from the end

of the 17th century to the 1930s, the Industrial Revolution brought a high degree of

civilisation to Western countries, and museum education entered the public's field of vision

and began the Jedi struggle, with the increasing number of school systems, the relevant

theories continue to appear in the public's field of vision, and the emergence of the museum
5
Nathaniel Prottas, "Where does the history of Museum Education begin?" Journal of
Museum Education 44, no. 4 (2019): 338.
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movement, which allowed the society to recognise museums as an educational institution

gradually. From the 1940s to the end of the 1970s, after the end of the Second World War, the

establishment of the U.S. Museum Education Department to make the role of the museum

clear, followed by the emergence of educational writings and university courses set up to turn

the museum education to the practical and diversified development of museum education; 6

From the 1980s to the present, in the latest definition of museums by the International

Council of Museums, “education” is the central theme. From the 1980s to the present,

“education” has been given a more prominent place in the latest ICOM definition of a

museum. The influence produced by museums is not obtained through brutal indoctrination

or forced acceptance through disciplinary constraints. However, rather, it is the meaning of

the beauty contained in the works of art that inculcates and infects the recipients, and the

works of art subconsciously influence the recipients by the concreteness and vividness of

their sensual images.

6
Kai Yin,"Perspectives on Museum Education-Birth, Development, Evolution, and
Prospects," Chinese Museum 2 (2015): 1-11.
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Chapter 4:Status of the National Education Museum

The National Education Museum has a history of over a hundred years since its

establishment in 1922, preserving the nation's educational heritage in tangible and intangible

forms through exhibitions, scholarly activities, research, publications and community services

to realise the national vision. The museum's exterior retains Southeast Asia's unique

architectural style, and from the entrance, it follows the local Malaysian tradition of requiring

slippers to enter the museum. The museum has two floors with one thematic gallery and 20

permanent galleries.

4.1 Display exhibitions

The purpose of the exhibition is to increase the basic knowledge of the audience; the

exhibits on display can not directly achieve their educational significance; only they will be

displayed in the system, in a theme to achieve their educational purposes. The exhibition

should highlight its distinctive theme and rich content. The National Education Museum, still

adopts the traditional way of displaying themes in words and pictures. The advantage of

displaying the collection simply and clearly to learners is that the absolute exhibits can be

flexibly displayed to the public to feel the grandeur of the large exhibits, appreciate the

craftsmanship of the tiny displays, and feel the history of its lineage. However, the purpose of

the exhibition is not only to exhibit cultural relics and artefacts but also to use cultural relics

and artefacts to narrate the story and express the theme so that the learners can explore the

trajectory of history from the exhibition and to arouse the audience's empathy in order to

achieve the learning effect. However, the traditional form of exhibition has certain
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limitations, and this way of visiting and learning tends to make the learners stay in a shallow

learning, passive and mechanical acceptance of knowledge. Regarding display, the National

Education Museum has a small font size for text notes and a short display height, which

could be more conducive for visitors to browse and learn. The display in the museum should

take into consideration the different audience groups.

4.2 Interpretation and Guided Tours

The field research for the National Education Museum found that the number of

exhibits of the museum's audio explanation could be much higher, and only some exhibits in

the museum are equipped with video explanations. The National Education Museum still

adopts the traditional mode of explaining to the audience by the interpreter who walks into

the exhibition halls, and manual explanations have limitations, and there exists a certain

degree of cultural gap between the contents of the explanations and the audience. Secondly,

manual explanation may affect the listening experience of some audiences due to the large

number of audiences. It is challenging to ensure that the single mode of guided tour can fully

understand the museum's culture and history lecturer.

4.3 New media equipment

In the National Education Museum, the guide design of new media equipment can be

said to be almost impossible to see; the museum's guide system, most of the static

standardised form of symbols for visitors to convey relevant and practical information, such

as a large number of traditional books, as well as the traditional teaching scene to the
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character model of the way the exhibition. Requires a large number of staff to maintain; due

to the limitations of the number of visitors, some visitors may need help to see the complete

picture of the exhibition, affecting the user experience.

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Chapter V. Recommendations for the development of museum education

In the 21st century, museums are experiencing rapid change and development all over

the world, and museum education should also pay more attention to the user's sense of

experience, bring museums closer to visitors, and constantly innovate the form of education.

The arrival of the new media era has also injected new power into museum education, and

museums should explore the effective interaction paradigm between new media technology

and museums to create a new situation of high-quality education;

5.1 Focus on user experience and enhance user participation

Based on the current development of immersive art, creating immersive exhibitions in

museums is also a good choice. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi proposed the concept

of “flow theory”, which is defined as the individual's high concentration on the task goal,

resulting in a positive emotional experience: a strong sense of acquisition, forgetting the

passage of time and everything around, and feeling very satisfied after completion.7The

authors use the definition of mind flow to express the meaning of immersion, which is

nowadays more widely used in gaming, where one acts as a game character, unlocking new

levels in the game and immersing oneself unconsciously in the game as the gamer is thinking

about it. In the museum is also the case, immersive exhibitions and traditional exhibition

forms are different; the use of contemporary science and technology to create immersive,

interactive exhibitions, the full use of new media thinking to promote the innovative

7
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Isabella Selega Csikszentmihalyi, eds. Optimal experience:
Psychological studies of flow in consciousness (Cambridge university press, 1992), 24.
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development of museum education so that visitors, learners active participation in the

learning project, so that learners into the experience, to create a different from the reality of

the feeling of submergence,8 Attract the learner's attention without pressure without the

burden of circumstances. Active learning, so that visitors and learners are in the first

perspective to think and explore in the acquisition of sensory experience simultaneously,

stimulates the interest in learning to achieve learning in the “aimless learning”.

5.2. Museums create high-quality museum education activities based on regional

characteristics

While using the new interactive media equipment well, the historical stories and

values behind the collections should be fully explored. Elaborate regional characteristics of

the curriculum and the organic combination with the school curriculum to build a new

practical learning mode out of the classroom and the campus so that the museum becomes the

second classroom of student learning. Rich educational activities allow learners to engage in

meaningful dialogue and produce personalised, multi-perspective interpretations in addition

to the understanding and acquisition of established knowledge.

5.3 Building virtual museums based on digital technology

In contemporary society, “all-media” context, economic, scientific and technological

development, information, cultural exchanges are more frequent and rapid, the integration of

8
Zoi Popoli, and Izabela Derda, "Developing experiences: Creative process behind the
design and production of immersive exhibitions," Museum Management and Curatorship 36,
no. 4 (2021): 385.
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different fields is also closer, access to learning resources is also becoming convenient and

fast, physical museums are restricted to limited space, only to come to the city to be able to

Personal experience, many visitors do not have enough time to visit the factory on the spot,

so we should make full use of digital resources to create a virtual museum, display digital

exhibits so that virtual exhibits can be cross-regional and cross-cultural exchanges. People

can search for information at any time through the Internet to promote the development of

museum education.
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Bibliography

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Isabella Selega Csikszentmihalyi, eds. Optimal experience:

Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge university press, 1992.

Dai, YUESHAN. “Visitor centred design in contemporary art museums. research on the
interactive development trend and digital strategy of contemporary art museum.”
Master diss, Polytechnic of Milan, 2018.

Macdonald, Sharon, ed. A companion to museum studies. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Jeanne Nakamura and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “Flow theory and research.” In Handbook of
positive psychology,edited by Charles Richard Snyder and Shane J. Lopez,195-
206.Oxford university press, 2001.

Prottas, Nathaniel. “Where does the history of Museum Education begin?.” Journal of
Museum Education 44, no. 4 (2019): 3377-341.

Popoli, Zoi, and Izabela Derda. “Developing experiences: Creative process behind the design
and production of immersive exhibitions.” Museum Management and Curatorship 36,
no. 4 (2021): 384-402.

Shan Jixiang, “Museum of social responsibility and social development.” Sichuan cultural
relics 1(2011):3-18.

Shan Jixiang. “Social Responsibility and Social Education of Museums.” Southeast Culture 6
(2010): 9-16.

Yin, Kai .“Perspectives on Museum Education-Birth, Development, Evolution, and

Prospects.” Chinese Museum 2 (2015): 1-11.