More than 17,000 users are already using the Kunstpalast app from the Düsseldorf Museum Kunstpalast, which was co-developed by ERGO as a digital partner and has been available in all major app stores since November 2023. The app allows Museum Kunstpalast to be the first German art museum that combines augmented reality (AR) with audio and video tours and a tour in easy-to-understand language. ERGO CDO Mark Klein finds this interactive and multimodal approach ‘groundbreaking when it comes to the use of new technologies in museums’.

Angels fly over saints, a fruit ripens in a fruit basket in fast motion, Cupid's stab into the heart makes blood flow – in augmented reality, anything is possible. The Kunstpalast app not only provides visitors with fun, but also with a wealth of knowledge. And it has the potential to reach new target groups: ‘For younger people, digital offerings often represent an important way of accessing the museum,’ says Felix Krämer, General Director of the Kunstpalast. ‘With our augmented reality tour, we enable a change of perspective and unusual views of our collection and the art exhibited here.’

New: AR content on the ‘big earth cloth’ by El Anatsui

In addition to the AR features, 60 audio files, 25 videos and 100 3D images of individual works of art can be accessed via the app – either on site in the museum or from home after the visit. What's more, the content is regularly expanded. And now it's time for another update: For example, a new application shows the time-lapse video of the elaborate hanging process of the large earth cloth by El Anatsui, the visitors' favourite photo motif, which is made of wire and bottle caps. With all these features, the app becomes a comprehensive, interactive companion.

Coming soon: ‘Hidden Treasures’ by Gerhard Richter

From September, the app will also replace the audio guides for temporary exhibitions that can be borrowed. The first of these is the audio guide for the major Gerhard-Richter-Schau „Hidden Treasures“, which starts on 5 September. The voice belongs to the actor Christian Friedel, known from film and television (‘Zone of Interest’). And ERGO also has a special role here: not only are we loaning central works by Richter, but the two largest paintings in this Kunstpalast show – Victoria I and II – can be viewed by all museum visitors free of charge in the foyer of our company building at ERGO Platz 2 after the exhibition tour.

AR app with an interactive and multimodal approach

The Kunstpalast app was developed in close cooperation with the digital experts at ERGO, the museum's long-standing digital partner. We had previously created a website for children – the Rhinopalast – for the Kunstpalast. To this day, this is the only children's website of an art museum in Germany.

‘At ERGO, we are convinced that virtual worlds offer a unique opportunity for presentation and knowledge transfer – in the insurance industry, the museum world and beyond,’ says ERGO CDO Mark Klein: ’With the Kunstpalast app, we have managed to take the museum and art experience for visitors to a completely new level. What's more, the app's interactive and multimodal approach is groundbreaking when it comes to the use of new technologies in museums. It is a prime example of what can be achieved when visionary ideas meet technological innovation."

Text: Ingo Schenk