Interactive Art Show with QR Coding

As great as the art museums of the world are, one thing that enhances the experience for many is the ability to walk around with the headset guided tour.  Back in March 2013 I approached the Art Department at my high school with the idea of replicating this experience on a smaller scale.  I wanted to give the art students an opportunity to speak to the patrons of the show to provide insight into their work.  The art teachers were very receptive of this idea for the 2013 ARHS Art Show.

Here is how we made the Art Show come alive!

Art teachers asked students who wanted to participate to write a short statement (approximately 30 seconds when read aloud) about a piece of their art.    Once students were set,  the art teachers sent students down to me to capture the audio. I used the WavePad app (free on the app store) on my iPad.  Students were instructed how to use the app to start and stop the recording.  A few times I did some quick editing (usually an "um" at the beginning or random noise at the end) and then exported the file via email.  I retrieved the audio files on my laptop and posted them to a Weebly blog so that each file had a place on the internet.  I created a QR code for each on http://qrcode.kaywa.com.  I pasted the web address in, selected static code, and generated the code.  Here was the workflow:

I then copied the QR code image into a document that was used to place on the wall with the artist's collection as shown below.

As you can see there was a description of the collection provided by the artist displayed, and the QR code to be scanned for the audio experience.  Along with the code, I did put brief instructions on how to scan and utilize the code on a smartphone/tablet.  The stories shared by each artist ranged from personal inspiration of the photograph to technical details of the creation of the photograph itself.  Parents, administration and students were excited to hear from the artists themselves.  In fact during one of my physics classes I brought students down and handed out some iPads to them.  It was fun to watch one student as she quickly went around to each collection to scan and listen to each artist.

As you can see this year we had only photography students involved.  We hope to expand this to many more students and mediums of art for the 2014 ARHS Art Show!

Special thanks to Michelle Sheppard for promoting this amongst her photography students and wanting to carry on this experience into next year.