Technologies for supporting inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue at religious museums: the on-field experimental action of Museo Diocesano, Milano.

This project presentation will describe the first results of an ongoing experimental action conducted within the frame of the European FP7 research project “MeLa- Museums in an age of migration” (www.mela-project.eu) about the topic of new museum technologies (Allen, Lupo, 2012), in the religious museum “Museo Diocesano” in Milano. The “representation” of religious issues in the public discourse of contemporary society seems to be an awkward question, especially in the attempt of museums and cultural institutions to deal with multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue: problems in contesting identities, confronting or questioning on diversities, dialoguing among identities and diversities are even amplified when the subjects of discussion are religious issues in museums. This experimental action has the aim to discuss and verify the intercultural potential of religion and its role as a privileged ‘place’ for the encounters of different religions within the Museo Diocesano involving limited groups of people of different religions (not catholic) in a guided test visit of ad hoc conceived contents. Based on a collaboration between the Design dept. of Milano Politecnico and ITIA-Institute for industrial technology and automation of CNR (National Research Council), it consists in the design of a visitor experience transforming the contemplative fruition in an interactive and contributive visit, possibly enabling intercultural dialogue too, by the use of digital technologies: i.e. the design of video narrations about some selected items of the museum property stimulating a multifaceted interpretation; the development of a digital interface and platform to enable comments, contributions with analogous issues and to facilitate the connections and relations among visitors; the intangible redesign of the space experience by requiring the visitors to perform “religiously coherent” gestures to activate the contents. The test is going to be conducted with two different types of users: experts, or “super-users”, meaning persons with a deep knowledge of their own religion (priest, theologians…) who will contribute with their religious point of view, and general public (second generation immigrants, and intercultural community resident in Milano). The reaction of visitors will be evaluated and the role of technologies in supporting forms of intercultural confrontation and understanding during the tests. The presentation will show the interactive features and the visitors participation and will discuss the way in which this experimental action could eventually inform curation within the museum, providing new information and materials for creating new parallel narrations and perspectives within the current Museo Diocesano intercultural interpretative strategies.