IU Eskenazi Museum of Art launches new progressive web app

A museum guest explores the collection, guided by the new progressive web app.

The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University is pleased to announce the launch of a new progressive web app, made possible with grant funding from the A. W. Clowes Charitable Foundation. Awarded in 2017 and 2019 respectively, two grants from the foundation provided funds to explore the interface between technology and art historical research. In addition to supporting research into the museum’s important Roman Imperial busts of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna (200-210 CE) and exploratory research into new technologies such as 3D modeling and augmented reality,  these grants also provided funding to create the museum’s first progressive web app.

A collaborative project between the museum’s curatorial, education, and creative departments, the app was developed by Launchpad Lab of Chicago, IL, and designed to encourage guests to make new connections with art from the museum’s collection, which includes more than 45,000 objects from nearly every art-producing culture throughout history. The app offers thoughtfully designed thematic pathways that present unique ways to learn more about the museum’s six curatorial areas.

Using any device connected to WiFi or cellular data, visitors can explore themed pathways that relate artworks throughout the galleries. Visitors can dive deeper to learn more about individual works of art through multimedia, including mindfulness audio tracks, photos, videos, and other media that encourage close looking. The progressive web app also allows users to make connections that go beyond the physical galleries. Thematic pathways encourage users to explore ideas and techniques that cross geographic boundaries and time periods, facilitating a conversation about how diverse works might relate.

Guests can enjoy the progressive web app both in the museum and from home. Options for viewing close details in images as well as family-friendly activities that engage a range of learners offer the ability to discover the museum’s collection from any location and with any device. New thematic pathways will be added periodically, providing users with something new to explore each time they visit the museum in person or virtually.

Guests can explore the progressive web app now!

About the IU Eskenazi Museum of Art

Since its establishment in 1941, the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art has grown from a small university teaching collection into one of the most significant university art collections in the United States. A preeminent teaching museum on the Indiana University campus, its internationally acclaimed collection includes more than 45,000 objects representing nearly every art-producing culture throughout history from around the world.

The Eskenazi Museum of Art recently completed a $30 million renovation of its acclaimed I. M. Pei–designed building. The newly renovated museum is an enhanced teaching resource for Indiana University and southern Indiana. The museum is dedicated to engaging students, faculty, artists, scholars, alumni, and the wider public through the cultivation of new ideas and scholarship.

CONTACT: Mariah Keller, Director of Creative Services