Google turns museum objects into interactive learning experiences with two new experiments

# What these experiments do

# Museum — explore and ask Fefegha. It collects nearly 200 3D cultural objects spanning prehistoric times to the present and places them in a virtual study room.

You can browse artifacts by size, material, or era. For any object you choose you get a full 360-degree, zoom-and-rotate view so you can inspect surface details. Gemini-powered audio commentary provides narration about the artifact's story. Hotspots on the object call out particular points of interest as you explore. You can also ask questions about the artifacts as you examine them, and the experience is designed to guide discovery through both visual manipulation and audio context.

• Seeing a piece in three dimensions gives a clearer sense of scale, texture, and construction than a flat image.

• Filtering by size, material, or era supports focused comparison across objects.

# Museum Memory — train your observation skills Museum Memory was designed by game designer Carol Mertz and developer Mary McKenzie. The game puts you inside a virtual gallery and asks you to study the placement of paintings on the walls under a time limit. When the timer ends, the paintings are scrambled and your task is to restore the exhibition to its original arrangement.

The experience is short, repeatable, and aimed at sharpening visual recall and attention to detail while you discover artworks. It requires no prior art knowledge — the skill is memory and observation rather than art history.

• Play a round with the express goal of remembering positions and relationships between works rather than the works themselves.

• Use the game to introduce students or casual visitors to the concept of exhibition design and how placement affects perception.

# Context and access Both experiments are presented by Google Arts & Culture Lab and are part of ongoing efforts to experiment with ways technology can increase access to cultural collections. They are available now on the Google Arts & Culture site and can be tried directly in a web browser.

# Practical next steps

• If you want a close-up study: start with The Talking Museum and filter objects by an era or material that interests you.
• If you want a short cognitive exercise: play Museum Memory to test and train visual recall in 5–10 minute sessions.
• Use the experiences in a classroom or workshop as quick prompts for discussion: what did you notice first, and how did zooming or hotspots change your understanding?

These two experiments aim to make cultural artifacts more interactive and to shift parts of museum learning into hands-on, web-based encounters.