At the Children’s Museum in Louvre Abu Dhabi, works of art were brought down to children’s eye level. Shapes, colours and decorative motifs became starting points for exploration, through original objects, images and interactive activities.
For “Travelling Shapes and Colours”, the children’s museum’s inaugural exhibition, Colorbitor produced 8 interactive installations. The exhibition and interaction design was created by OPERA Amsterdam.
We present this international collaboration in the Susțin portfolio as part of our founders’ and collaborators’ experience in cultural production and technology.
Historical exhibition, 2017–2018 · Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
An interactive interface beside the exhibited objects, in the floral and geometric motifs area.
8Interactive installations produced by Colorbitor
2017The year the project was delivered
The exhibition remained open in 2017–2018
Ages 6–12The audience the space was designed for
These figures describe the delivery and the intended audience. They are not installation attendance numbers, nor an assessment of educational progress.
THE EXHIBITION
An exhibition built for children’s curiosity
Shapes that travel between cultures
“Travelling Shapes and Colours” opened the Children’s Museum in November 2017. The exhibition brought together works from different places and eras, starting from something easy to notice: a colour, a flower, a geometric pattern or the way an object is decorated. The works on display included Turkish ceramics, French decorative vases and a painting by Paul Klee.
At a child’s eye level
The space was designed for children aged 6–12 and for the adults accompanying them. The original works were protected in display cases set at children’s height. The activities invited them to look closely and to make connections between what they saw in an object and what they could explore around it.
Exploring as a family, at a station with objects and interpretation materials.
Display cases lowered to children’s height, in front of the floral projections.
A screen beside an artwork can open a question
The project photographs show digital interfaces integrated beside the display cases, projections with floral and geometric motifs, and work surfaces within reach of the youngest visitors. A wider view thus becomes a series of details a visitor can follow at their own pace.
The National’s report from the opening also describes activities with pencils, magnetic shapes and a corner for stories. The whole experience combined looking at objects with play and family conversation.
The photographs and examples describe the exhibition as a whole. The Colorbitor credit concerns the production of the 8 interactive installations.
THE TEAM'S CONTRIBUTION
8 interactive installations, produced in an international museum setting
The team’s documented contribution was the interactive production for the Children’s Museum exhibition. The project brought digital production skills from Romania into an international museum setting, in collaboration with the design studio OPERA Amsterdam.
WHO DID WHAT
Louvre Abu Dhabi
The museum that hosted the exhibition and integrated the Children’s Museum into its educational programme.
OPERA Amsterdam
Design studio: exhibition and interaction design.
Colorbitor
Production of the 8 interactive installations.
On the conception of the children’s museum, France Muséums documents the development of a space dedicated to families, with original works and tools for exploration through observation, play and sensory experience.
Objects and interpretation tools within the same field of view.The plant and geometric motifs area, with projections on the walls.The exhibition sections, marked with bilingual signage.A wide view of the Children’s Museum room.
Photographs published in the Colorbitor portfolio. Interactive production: Colorbitor. Exhibition and interaction design: OPERA Amsterdam. Museum: Louvre Abu Dhabi.Video from the Colorbitor portfolio ↗
The entrance to the Children’s Museum, under the museum’s dome. The architecture is the exhibition’s context, not a contribution of the team.
WHAT IT BRINGS TO SUSȚIN’S EXPERIENCE
Cultural experiences we can build together
This collaboration points to a direction we can develop in cultural projects: experiences in which a child has something to observe, to try and to talk about with others. For Susțin, it is a working reference whenever we connect cultural content to public participation.
A museum, a library or a cultural venue can start from a collection, a story or a single object. We can discuss how to turn it into an experience children can reach: what we invite them to notice, what they can do and what they discover by taking part.
The main thematic link is SDG 4, quality education - detailed below.
For museums and cultural institutions
We explore formats for cultural mediation and interactive installations adapted to the space, the content and the team who will use them. We start from a prototype we can test with the public.
For companies and partners
We can build an educational pilot in a Romanian venue, with a clear format, defined resources and feedback from children and educators. The Louvre Abu Dhabi experience offers a starting point for the conversation.
Questions about the project
What did Colorbitor deliver?
The production of 8 interactive installations for the inaugural Children’s Museum exhibition. The exhibition and interaction design belongs to OPERA Amsterdam.
Is the exhibition still open?
This page documents “Travelling Shapes and Colours”, from 2017–2018. For the current programme, seethe Louvre Abu Dhabi website ↗.
What is the connection to Susțin?
The project is presented as Colorbitor experience, relevant to the skills of Susțin’s founders and collaborators in culture, education and interactive production.
