The Challenge
When planning the exhibition of the Leonardo da Vinci Codex Leicester notebook which was loaned to the Library by Bill and Melissa Gates, The Chester Beatty Library approached X Communications to discuss developing interactive presentations that would explain both the production and contents of the manuscript. The notebook was written in Renaissance Italian and is presented backwards so that it can be read in the reflection of a mirror. Visitors to the exhibition in Dublin are not necessarily familiar with the contents or the subject matter of this famous notebook and would not be able to read the original text. A presentation was discussed which would complement the exhibition design and also make the manuscript more accessible to visitors. Several translations are available of the text of the notebook and the plan was to make these translations available to visitors on the interactive installations.
The Solution
X Communications has worked with several original notebooks and manuscripts including The Book of Kells, the James Joyce notebooks for Ulysses and a notebook that Samuel Beckett kept while he was studying at Trinity College Dublin. An interactive presentation that accompanies an original manuscript must not detract in any way from the experience of viewing an original artefact. The interactive presentations should be available to complement and possibly enhance the visitor experience by providing access to background information about the writings and translations of the pages. Most of the pages contain small drawings or sketches in the margins, the interactive installations should contextualise these drawings. It is not possible to display the English translations beside images of the original pages on the computer monitor so voice was used to present the translations and explanations.
The Result
The response to the interactive presentations has been consistently positive. There are always several people at each station listening intently to the voiceover and viewing the pages and magnified images of the drawings and sketches. Perhaps visitors are spending too much time at the computers! The exhibition is a wonderful collaboration between the Chester Beatty Library and X Communications. We are privileged to have been given the opportunity to work on this amazing exhibition and have really enjoyed our partnership with the staff of the Chester Beatty Library.
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