Museums and online exhibitions: a model for analysing and charting existing types

ABSTRACTTemporary exhibitions are a type of cultural activity that art museums have been organising for decades. As their name indicates, they have traditionally been short-lived events, something that began to change with the arrival of Internet. The design of virtual, online versions of temporary exhibitions and their availability to Internet users means that the truth of the adjective 'temporary' has become questionable. This article proposes a model of analysis and analyses their chief features, charting the types of online exhibitions that exist.KEYWORDS: Online exhibitionsInternetICTcultural disseminationtemporary exhibitionsmuseums Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes on contributorsSantos M. Mateos-Rusillo is a PhD in Art History. Presently, he is working as a teacher and researcher at the Department of Communication of the Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya in Spain. His research interest focuses on museums and cultural heritage communication.Arnau Gifreu-Castells is a PhD in Communications. Presently, he is working as a teacher and researcher at the Department of Communication of the Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya in Spain. His research interest focuses on interactive and transmedia non-fiction.ORCIDSantos M. Mateos-Rusillo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2232-2126Arnau Gifreu-Castells http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7856-1391Notes1. For the Musée du Louvre, this is the 'Mini-sites du Louvre', http://www.louvre.fr/minisite; for the MoMA, 'MoMA Multimedia', http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia, and for the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 'Virtual Visits', http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/exposiciones_visitas_virtuales (accessed on 7 April 2015).2. http://www.museothyssen.org/microsites/exposiciones/2014/impresionismo-americano/vv/index_in.htm (accessed on 20 April 2015).3. http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2008/vangoghnight/ (accessed on 20 April 2015).4. http://www.monet2010.com/ (accessed on 20 April 2015).