Time: 4 weeks
Collaboration: National Museum of Danmark with Frederik Kantner Bottrup, Jonas Juhlert, Mathias Algot Søllested, Yuhan Xia
Course: Visual Game and Media Design
Process: Prototyping, research, expert interviews, and exploration of AI applications
Impact: Received very positive feedback for bridging cultural history and emerging technology
In this four-week Visual Game and Media Design project, our team explored how cultural history can be retold through emerging technologies and AI.
The project focused on communicating Inuit cultural heritage in Greenland and the stories connected to Knud Rasmussen’s journeys. Rasmussen grew up in Greenland and spent much of his life traveling across the Arctic.
We combined research, expert interviews, and rapid prototyping to explore different approaches, while critically examining the role of AI in shaping cultural experiences.
The project was informed by museum curator and Arctic expert Ivalo Olsvig, who gave us deeper insight into both Knud Rasmussen’s expeditions and Inuit history in Greenland.
Visitors encounter cards linked to objects in the exhibition. By scanning a card at our machine, it is recognized by an AI that generates a unique story about the object.
The story is then projected from below onto a thin paper book, creating the illusion of text and animated imagery appearing directly on its pages. The book takes the form of Knud Rasmussen’s journal, combining projected writing, drawings, narrate them through a cloned voice created from one of our team members, intended to represent Rasmussen himself.
In this way, cultural history is reimagined through a living, interactive artifact that blends machine learning, storytelling, and historical material.
User testing showed us that using technology in unexpected ways can create a sense of magic, especially for younger children.
We initially expected older children (8–12) to engage more with the concept, but children aged 5–7 responded most strongly. The testing suggested that older children would need more challenge and interaction to stay engaged.
