The FINANCIAL — National Gallery Singapore (the Gallery) and Accenture on November 3 unveiled the Gallery Explorer, a mobile application designed to enhance the art experience for visitors. The app provides a preview of up to 100 artworks from the Gallery, which will house the largest public display of modern art of Singapore and Southeast Asia from the 19th century to the present day.
Accenture was named Innovation Partner to the Gallery and announced the collaboration to develop the mobile app in late 2014.
The Gallery Explorer was developed to cater to the needs and expectations of Gallery visitors, providing a digitally engaging way to explore everything from exhibitions and events to retail outlets remotely and while they are at the Gallery. By enabling intelligent indoor navigation across the Gallery’s 64,000 sqm area, the app offers a differentiated, context-aware experience. Through Bluetooth-enabled beacon technology, a visitor’s proximity to an artwork can trigger the presentation of additional relevant content via the app, according to Accenture.
“We are passionate about creating personalised experiences for visitors to the Gallery. The collaboration with Accenture leverages technology to transform a visit to the Gallery into an immersive digital art journey,” said Chong Siak Ching, CEO of National Gallery Singapore. “As visitors learn about the breadth and depth of the artworks and programmes, they will be able to share their stories with friends through social media and create dialogues about their experiences with art.”
Tour Customisation and Integration of Social Media
Using the Gallery Explorer, visitors can create their own customised tours and share these with other art lovers, adding to the existing choice of guided tours curated by the Gallery’s team of experts. These additional tours will help cater to the diverse interests and preferences of Gallery visitors, enhancing their art experience.
The app also integrates with social media, allowing users to log in to their own profiles to share their Gallery visit experiences. Visitors who opt not to use their public social media profiles will be able to access the Gallery’s own private social network through the Gallery Explorer, where they can connect directly with other art lovers. This includes a dynamic real-time “trending” feature, highlighting the most talked about art works at the Gallery.
Enhancing Visitor Experience through Advanced Analytics
The Gallery Explorer is part of a wider digital innovation strategy being developed by Accenture in its role as the Innovation Partner of National Gallery Singapore. Other areas covered by the collaboration include analytics, user experience design and enterprise architecture:
Analytics: Using advanced analytics methods like agent-based modelling, the Accenture Analytics Innovation Centre in Singapore provides the Gallery with insights into visitor behaviour. Through crowd density, localised congestion and capacity estimation simulations, insights are uncovered that can help the Gallery to develop informed data-driven strategies for improving crowd management and the overall visitor experience.
User experience design: Accenture is helping to make the Gallery’s website more intuitive and delightful for customers, to allow them to seamlessly plan their visits across multiple platforms.
Enterprise Architecture: Accenture has also designed and implemented the Gallery’s enterprise architecture platform to enable the seamless integration of all applications, providing an integrated digital user experience.
The opening of National Gallery Singapore, together with these ground-breaking digital initiatives, will further cement Singapore’s position as a regional and international hub for visual arts.
“Singapore is gaining prominence as a global city for the arts, and we are proud to contribute to this vision. Our collaboration with the National Gallery Singapore provides a unique opportunity to bring to life the way digital innovation can enhance and personalise the enjoyment and experience of the arts,” said Teo Lay Lim, senior managing director for ASEAN and country managing director of Singapore at Accenture.
The Gallery Explorer will be available as a free download from Apple’s App Store on 18 November 2015, and from the Google Play Store shortly after.
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