PreviousNext

The Museum für Islamische Kunst Releases an Augmented Reality App as Part of the TAMAM Project

13.02.2019
Pergamonmuseum

Mosque communities, in collaboration with the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s Museum für Islamische Kunst, have been developing new approaches to cultural exchange in the TAMAM Project since 2015. Following the publication of teaching materials at the end of 2018, a free app has just been released that employs Augmented Reality (AR) to present background information on selected objects in the collection.

Via visual recognition software in the app, users can learn about the origins and purposes of works of art and objects in the museum or delve into current research topics. The free app is now available in the usual app stores for iOS and Android devices.

For Stefan Weber, director of the Museum für Islamische Kunst, exploring new multimedia approaches, while remaining aware of current media usage and behaviour, is the main objective of the TAMAM Project: ‟Modern technology offers museums unexpected opportunities to enter into dialogue with visitors. In this way, we can tailor our offers to different target groups without overburdening the exhibitions with too much text and graphics. The Museum für Islamische Kunst is always looking out for new possibilities to keep the museum’s work up to date and draws on the latest developments for both its exhibitions and its outreach programmes.”

For the time being, the TAMAM app allows 16 objects in the collection of the Museum für Islamische Kunst to be experienced on site in a new way. Users hold the camera of their mobile devices up to one of these objects to call up related animation and additional background information, for instance about the numerous design elements in the Aleppo Room, its inscriptions and pictorial motifs.

The TAMAM Project is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and by the Berlin Senate Department for Integration, Labour and Social Affairs (SenIAS). Special thanks are extended to the cooperation partners of the TAMAM Project, numerous mosques, Islamic associations and organisations that have been involved in the participatory process of developing this app and other offers.

Further information about the TAMAM Project and its educational media are available online: www.tamam-projekt.de