Australian museum uses smartphones to bring artwork to life

Museum visitors will be able to experience a deeper history of exhibits, which otherwise would remain hidden

Spotted: Australian startup Sandbox has created a way for smartphones to trigger a virtual experience for museum visitors. The program, known as Cipher, will bring aboriginal cultural artefacts to life at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide.

By waving their phones over artefacts, visitors will be able to experience a deeper history of the exhibits. The first Cipher-enabled display will be Yuendumu School Doors, a set of 27 wooden doors decorated with Aboriginal Dreaming designs. Symbols on the door have been digitalised to interact with the Cipher program.

The Cipher project was financed by a $20,000 grant from Ignite SA’s Gigabit Challenge. The digitally-enhanced Yuendumu School Doors exhibit will open as a pilot test this month.