Should holograms be displayed next to paper mache models? Reflections on the conflict of the pre-digital and the post-digital museum

This paper reflects on the development of a low-cost holographic display portraying digital scans of taxidermy artifacts, and using animation and motion capture technology to bring the museum collection to life in an interactive experience. The intervention describes the ‘HoloRoom’, an interactive artifact designed to facilitate audience engagement with novel interfaces and the digitalization of Portsmouth’s Cumberland House Natural History Museum store artifacts. A dynamic display of the artifacts’ 3D digital models was deployed at the museum. In parallel, the ‘HoloRoom’ concept was applied to showcase an interactive experience leveraging real-time motion-capturing and Wizard-of-Oz performative methods to animate a conversational holographic animal that engaged with visitors via voice interaction, creating narratives around the museum’s collection.