Upon entering the new Media Museum in Hilversum, it seems as if you are entering a futuristic lab from a science fiction film. Above the heads of the visitors hangs a gigantic installation of three hundred meters of LED screens that stretches like a ribbon over the entire museum. The ‘Media editor’ shows a continuous flow of media flowing in and out of the Sound & Vision archive. From important TV news clips to YouTube videos.
Sound & Vision at the Mediapark closed its doors in October 2020 to build a completely new Media Museum. “The old museum was mainly about radio and television and was therefore no longer in line with the perception and experience of the average visitor. Because he still watches television, but also YouTube and all kinds of media on his smartphone or tablet,” says Ineke Middag, editor-in-chief of the museum. “So we wanted to incorporate that perspective of today into the museum.” The result is a digital media playground with screens, buttons, memes and interactive play and learning opportunities everywhere.
The Media Museum was festively opened on Saturday morning with confetti cannons, cheering and a bunch of flowers that were handed over to the first two visitors by director Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer. When you enter, you create a profile with an app using facial recognition. This will personalize your museum visit. The films that you then see in the museum are adapted to the personal preferences that you have specified in the app. “The new Media Museum is much more about your role in the media,” says manager Karen Drost. “Instead of the media just broadcasting, you also have a very important role in it. That whole part of reacting in the media yourself, maybe putting yourself out there as a brand or responding to news has obviously been a huge change in the media world.”
How we live with media
Once inside, visitors can entertain themselves for hours with interactive screens and games. Five zones show how we live with media: Share, Inform, Sell, Tell and Play. In each zone there are interactive activities and fragments that interpret the media of the past, present and future. Afternoon: “The starting point has been that we live in the media like a fish in water. He doesn’t even know there is water. It’s just there. We took that starting point and the museum shows how we got there. How did we do that before we had the internet and TikTok?”
The new Media Museum is suitable for all ages. Families in party hats experience what it’s like to be a news editor in the ‘Inquire’ section and intently touch the screen where they make a news selection for an imaginary website. In the ‘Sell’ section, a virtual fortune teller reveals your online profile and which companies are hunting your data to advertise based on your interests. There are also special media objects on display. For example, in the ‘Sharing’ section there is a timeline in which various forms of communication technology are displayed.
The more assignments and games you play, the more unique your media profile becomes. On request, the videos you have made for the interactive components will be sent to you. Children can dress up in a photo booth in the foyer; with cakes in hand, a group of children take a photo with one after their visit Minecraft-sword.