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Project AMI: Interactive Art Education and Playful Prototypes

Three museums, 10 prototypes, 12 months: that’s the hefty goal for Project AMI, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Project AMI (Art + Museums Interacting), the brainchild of Kellian Adams Pletcher, FableVision’s Director of G.L.A.M. Innovation (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums), is taking the possibilities of interactive installations to the next level in Switzerland. With the sponsorship of the Max Kohler Foundation, Project AMI partners and collaborates with several Swiss museums to elevate art education by creating prototypes for innovative and interactive experiences. Switzerland serves as an exciting new arena for educational innovation due to its diverse cultural influences, tight-knit community, and burgeoning museum infrastructure supporting imperfect play and interaction. 

Project AMI has many goals but, most importantly, aims to help museums foster an idea from conception to completion that results in an engaging prototype. Each museum has 30 days to develop an idea and execute a prototype that helps it achieve its goals of play, community, and creativity, while utilizing available supplies. 

Kellian brainstorming with the team at Fondation Beyeler

“We wanted to expand the vocabulary of what a museum can do with games and programming in Switzerland and maybe get visitors (and staff!) to become more comfortable with the idea of casual, imperfect play in museums,” says Kellian. “It’s a way to give Swiss museum educators a little more freedom to be playful and fun.”

The project’s first year will focus on three Swiss museums – Museum Rietberg, Creaviva Children’s Museum, and Fondation Beyeler – with a special feature on the U.S. museum, SFMOMA. Totaling 10 prototypes, each Swiss museum has three opportunities to go through the prototype process and exhibit an interactive experience. The first round of prototypes is complete with the second round already underway, and we are eager to share what each museum has created.  

Museum Rietberg

Museum Rietberg is a non-western art and anthropology museum located in Zurich. Its first project, Ragamala Lab, had participants react to art by documenting their feelings through creative responses on postcards. Traditionally, Ragamala combines Indian music, poetry, and painting and is the focal point for Rietberg’s interactive experience. Participants would listen and look at the Ragamala and then use their encounter to inspire their own artistic response of words, poetry, or drawing. 

Traditional Ragamala

Rietberg’s Second Prototype

Their second prototype was inspired by a popular German TV show in which children have to describe objects and adults try to understand them. Museum Rietberg's interaction designer went one step further and proposed to develop both a physical and digital game where players see the content on a screen but can react with physical objects. The final prototype combined RFIDs (allowing contactless data exchange) and Phidget controllers with videos and a game rating mechanism. A truly playable prototype emerged, with players reaching out for descriptions of Ragamala paintings, competing, carefully listening, and discussing. Additionally, players played once in their native language and again in a foreign language to practice their language skills.

Creaviva Children’s Museum

A part of the Paul Klee Center, the Creaviva Children’s Museum is a contemporary art museum in Bern. The goal for its first prototype was to make something accessible to all people, even outside the museum. The museum used Instagram to source volunteers’ photos of colors, shapes, and textures found in everyday life and then compiled those images to make an NFT. To share the NFT, pillows with QR codes were placed in the parks surrounding the museum so that the larger community could appreciate the collaborative art piece.


Fondation Beyeler

Fondation Beyeler in Basel took this opportunity to target the untapped demographic of young teenagers through Project 13. With the premise that something special about 13-year-olds helps keep the Fondation Beyeler Museum alive, Project 13’s first prototype used art challenge cards secretly tucked away in labeled envelopes to ignite ingenuity through simple prompts. Participants had limited supplies and specific directions, such as “Draw what’s in the window, but only use three colors,” to spark their unique creativity. The responses to the challenge cards varied drastically, demonstrating the infinite possibilities of a well-cultivated imagination. 

Project 13 Art Challenge Cards

Scavenger Hunt Clue

Planning on testing in the near future, Project 13’s second prototype is a scavenger hunt-based mystery game. Players must decode symbols hidden around the museum grounds to reveal clues to their next location and clue. Through this prototype, Foundation Beyeler’s goals are to teach kids how information can be shared through images instead of words and have families engage in the outdoor museum grounds and its art pieces. 

SFMOMA

As a special feature, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) had the opportunity to participate in Project AMI. SFMOMA took the challenge head-on and created an interaction that included digital and theatrical elements for an alien adventure scavenger hunt. Its goal was to create a safe and inspiring place for visitors to socialize, and it drew in more than 600 participants. 

While Project AMI has already accomplished a lot, the next round of prototype testing begins soon and more museums are planning to join the project in the near future. The featured museums will have the opportunity to learn from and improve on their past prototypes by repeating the brainstorming and creation process to make another immersive exhibit for their patrons. FableVision looks forward to creating more immersive experiences and collaborating with museums looking to promote play through prototype building in the future. Check out our portfolio of other museum interactives, contact Kellian with questions, and be sure to stay tuned for more Project AMI and G.L.A.M. Innovation updates!

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July FableFriday: Adam Gravett, Artist/Animator

AdamHeadshot

Adam Gravett had an artistic goal in mind and just needed to figure out his path. “Ever since I was a little kid, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do or how I was going to get there, but I was certain that I wanted to be in the field of art and animation,” says Adam. 

With a keen interest in aliens, animals, wizards, knights, and other creatures, Adam breathes a creative, humorous, and cartoony aesthetic into his character designs and animation at FableVision. Inspired by other artists and the wonderful work that he stumbles upon, Adam continues to improve his illustrations, discover new techniques, and grow his incredible portfolio. 

Keep reading to learn more about Adam’s creative process, hopes for future projects, and unparalleled hat collection. 

What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
It began back in 2016, when two ambassadors for Lesley University came to my high school art class and talked to us about the college. Lesley ended up being the college that I attended. During my junior year, I took a character design class taught by FableVision’s Bob Flynn, Director of Art and Animation. I had previously heard about the class and I knew immediately that I needed to take it. FableVision stayed on my radar for potential post-college work. Bob told me that he liked my work and wanted to keep in touch. 

A year later I ended up seeing him and taking a tour of the old FableVison studio space. I’m happy I did that because soon after that COVID-19 started, and I moved home to Albany, New York. Bob contacted me and I started doing some freelance animation work for FableVision. A year and a half later, I received an offer for a full-time position as an artist/animator, and moved back to Boston to start the next chapter of my life. 

How did you get into art and illustration?
Ever since I was little, I knew that I wanted to make cartoons. I loved watching SpongeBob SquarePants and I realized from a very young age that I wanted to make something like that. I never thought about doing anything else.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your art? What types of characters do you like to create and animate?
I’m inspired by other artists I find on Twitter and Instagram. There are so many talented people out there, which encourages me to keep drawing and making art. I always enjoy drawing fun little creatures – animals, aliens, and monsters are so much fun. 

Can you walk us through your creative process?
When it comes to drawing, it usually starts with me looking for reference images to help me get some ideas on where to start. Using those, along with the knowledge of what kind of feeling is supposed to be perceived when looking at the art, I’ll make a few versions of whatever it is I’m drawing. I’ll push certain elements to ensure the art is as dynamic as possible. 

When it comes to animating, I’ll start by looking at what I’m going to animate, and I act out the movements myself to get a feel for how the characters are supposed to move.

What would you like to work on in the future at the studio?
I’m a big fan of longer series of animated shorts, like the NoiseFilter series or The Paper Girls Show, a Global Tinker and FableVision collaboration. In a similar format, I’d love to design and animate alien characters based in space. I’m a big sci-fi fan, so getting to work on a project like that would be a dream come true. 

When you go to a museum or art show, which works do you look at first?
When it comes to museums and other art shows, I want to consume as much art as I can. I have a very simple solution –  I head towards the closest thing near me and try to circle through all of the works.

Tell us more about your hat collection.
I got my first hat back in high school. I saw it out of the corner of my eye while shopping in the mall with my mom, and just thought it looked neat. I started wearing it every day and I eventually bought more. Some of my hat highlights include my Squid Hat, Umbrella Hat, and my most recent addition, my Bidoof Hat.

Adam Grand Canyon

Adam’s Favorites

Favorite cartoon: SpongeBob Squarepants is easily my favorite cartoon. It was the first cartoon I remember watching and it’s partially the reason why I am where I am today. 

Favorite movie: I don’t think I’ve ever watched a movie more times than I have with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I saw it four times in theaters and five more times after that.

Favorite game: Destiny – I’ve put too much time into that game, both playing it and learning about its deep DEEP lore.

Favorite hat: My hats are like my children – you can’t choose one over the other… except my gray flat clap with winter flaps (but don’t tell the others).

Favorite vacation destination: Saint Martin, a part of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea. My parents have a timeshare there and it is absolutely beautiful and a great place to scuba dive.  

Favorite snack: Pretzels, both soft and hard. Top tier snack.

Favorite New York state attraction: The Saratoga Race Track.

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