In 2002 Tate was the first gallery in the UK to experiment with multimedia tours. Tate Modern is now exploring how this technology can be used by different audiences.
Transforming the museum school trip is SMART (student multimedia art research tool), a pilot scheme aimed at Key Stage 4 students. School trips to museums always used to include a worksheet which pupils completed. But students at Tate Modern now scribble notes on the screens of their personal digital assistants (PDAs). Arriving at the gallery, each pupil is given a PDA loaded with all of Tate Modern’s interpretive material, plus extras designed specially for a school audience.
The PDAs are more than just digital brochures. They hold film clips, audio, images, games and music, and the students can also draw and record their own material and send text messages. This work is automatically uploaded to a website so that school groups can later access and work with it back in the classroom.
Around 500 students have taken part so far, coming in groups of around 30 at a time. Selina Levinson, Assistant Curator at Tate Modern said, ‘The response has been really good – students have enjoyed the videos of artists speaking about their work, and the texting and recording. We’ll be evaluating this trial period and then seeing how we can take it forward.’
In addition to this pilot scheme we launched a service for deaf visitors using the same technology. From December 2007 Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Tate Liverpool offer a multimedia guide to key works on display. Information is presented on screen in two formats: filmed signers using British Sign Language (BSL) and optional subtitles. The deaf community was instrumental in the research, production and content of the tours.
