Gabriella Belli on Digital Tech's Unfulfilled Promise in Italian Museums

Gabriella Belli argues that Italian museums have failed to effectively integrate digital technologies, unlike their scientific counterparts. Experiments in digital humanities for museum visits have often been unsatisfying, merely replicating old informational panels in digital form. Devices like iPads and smartphones distract visitors rather than enhance their experience, as they focus more on the screen than on artworks. Belli suggests that contemporary art offers a model for positive human-digital interaction, citing André Malraux's 1951 book "Le Musée Imaginaire" as a precursor to digital humanities. Malraux's approach—mixing works from different eras and styles like a hypertext—breaks linear art history criticism and creates new connections. Belli envisions a museum where visitors see Leonardo's paintings or Roman artifacts not just for their eternal beauty but for new meanings arising from unexpected relationships with other works. This requires a mental revolution where curators abandon certainty for uncertainty, embracing a contemporary perspective to give meaning to art of all times. The article was published in Grandi Mostre #15.