National Museum in Prague Implements Two Ventuz Installations

Interactive technology offers great opportunities for museums not only to offer more viewer participation, but also to save costs. While the initial investment might be a hurdle, later on multimedia technologies allow for the quick and easy exchange of digital content, making additional model and exhibit purchases unnecessary. This is why more and more museums all over the world are bringing stand-alone interactive installations into their spaces.

One of them is the National Museum in Prague, Czech Republic. In its show area for natural sciences and the environment, called Noah’s Ark, the Czech agency Xlab recently installed two Ventuz powered multitouch stations.

The first station is a touch-table by the German manufacturer Eyevis. The table can be operated by up to four visitors at a time. Each of them can open their individual window in which they can browse through a large number of European national parks, receiving information in the form of text, videos and infographics.

The second installation consists of a video wall of six HD displays, which can be operated via a touch screen. On the screen, visitors can rotate a digital globe and click on specific interests, such as geographical locations, habitats or endangered species. The content on the chosen topic – images, text, graphics, maps and animations – is then shown on the video wall.

Xlab chose Ventuz for this project for its reliability, but also because Ventuz allows the seamless communication with content management tools and libraries. As it was paramount for the museum to make sure their own staff would be able to change the content, Xlab provided them with a custom system that they could easily operate, giving them full control over their installations.

Both installations have been running successfully for months and are a permanent part of the museum’s exhibit.