T’other week I took myself off to MOSI, the museum of science and industry in Manchester, to discover their brand spanking new gallery Revolution Manchester. Part of a £9 million refurbishment to the Great Western Warehouse the gallery contains exhibits focused on Transport, Computing, Engineering, Energy, the Cottonopolis and the Structure of Matter. The displays chart the past, present and future of these subjects, as well as the role Manchester has had to play in innovations within these fields.

What really excites me about the gallery though is that it is Your Revolution Manchester. Created in association with interactive designers kin visitors can ‘become part of the gallery’ by registering their own unique bar-coded card. This enables them to become part of the showcase piece of the museum by having their image added to the huge digital chandelier (pictured above) that hangs in the entrance to the warehouse. The interaction doesn’t stop their though as these images can then be viewed online via the Your Revolution Manchester page. Here visitors can also view a log of their visit which can be viewed on a personal web page once they return home.

With my MA thesis (a synopsis of which is coming soon… honest!) considering how technology can create a museum without walls I am delighted to see this interaction between the digital and the physical visit. I will be interested to witness how MOSI expand on this in the coming months and years, as well as the shift across the wider museum sector.