As part of its history-making exhibition Treasures from a Lost Civilization, the Seattle Art Museum has created three innovative, interactive extensions to the main display areas. Multimedia kiosks, a virtual reality “dig” and an extensive web site are all part of the effort to enlarge and enhance the learning experience by providing more opportunities for individual, hands-on interaction.

Virtual Reality Dig

Working in cooperation with the University of Washington’s Human Interface Technolgy Lab (HITlab), museum staff have turned the Art Studio into the site of a virtual “dig” where visitors can join archeologists excavating one of the burial pits at Sanxingdui. The use of state-of-the-art technologies brings this unique perspective to fully-realized, three dimensional life.

Watch the VR dig experience
• highbandwith version, requires quicktime plugin
• lowbandwith version, no plugin required

Look at a 3D model
• highbandwith version, requires quicktime plugin
• lowbandwith version, no plugin required

Learn about the HITLab
• Shared Space Augmented Reality technology
• Magic Book
• HI-SPACE technology

Multimedia Gallery Kiosks

Each of the three main exhibition areas has been designed to include a multimedia kiosk created by SAM staff and the award-winning design firm Motivo. Visitors may choose from a variety of interactive explorations that will add to their knowledge and appreciation of the artifacts on display around them.

Watch a kiosk sample highbandwith version requires quicktime plugin lowbandwith version no plug in necessary

Sichuan Web Site

This web site was produced to complement the other two technology components created to enhance the exhibition experience. The web site is the only vehicle where visitors can respond to the questions that are presented to them throughout the exhibition. Discussion boards, accessed through the "Story of Sichuan" section, were created to provide an accessible vehicle for users to share their ideas and add to the scholarship. The site was also designed to provide the necessary background information that would allow nonexhibition visitors to participate in the discussion. Art historians and anthropologists who specialize in China were invited to participate in the discussions by logging on to the site once a week. This is the first SAM web site to provide a postexhibition experience.

If you have any questions, problems, or comments about the site please contact webmaster@seattleartmuseum.org

Technology Credits and Contributors

The technology components for this exhibition were developed by the Seattle Art Museum in collaboration with the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory and Motivo. Generous support provided by Verizon, Hauppauge Computer Works, and the James and Jane Hawkanson Exhibition Endowment.

The museum also thanks Battelle Memorial Institute and Microsoft Research for their contributions to the creation of the technology components.