by Laurent Catala – December 10, 2025
Having a conversation with an AI through a wooden lectern. Listening via bone conduction. Storytelling through an immersive hologram. A sculptural object-receiver. An augmented postcard. Innovations in digital tools for museum communications are expanding both their designers’ creativity and the sustainability of the visitor experience.
The Museum Connections fair, held at Porte de Versailles on January 14 and 15, was a perfect opportunity to find out about new innovative devices for digital museum experiences. From models that use VR headsets/goggles to ways of using real-time mobile connectivity (for augmented reality, internet links via QR code) and other large-scale immersive projections for museum interiors, an abundance of trending tools were on display from a range of companies and exhibitors. The digital zeitgeist was pleasantly fleshed out by other devices that were just as digital, but more design-oriented, lo-fi, and low-tech: tools intended not only to upgrade the museum experience in the moment but also keep it going once the visit is over. Below, a brief recap of the event through five technologies that grabbed the editorial team’s attention.
TALKING PICTURES, by Lean Mean Machine
In the age of AI, shouldn’t it be possible to communicate directly with an embodied work of art? This is the idea behind the very hands-on device called Talking Picture created by the Belgian company Lean Mean Machine. It combines several advanced technologies. “An interface with a wooden lectern lets visitors press a button and ask questions via SST (Speech-to-Text) voice recognition,” explains Dennis Lippens, one of the designers. “The AI, which is based on an LLM, reformulates and delivers an answer using a TTS (Text-to-Speech) synthesis module.”
The answers are precise yet playful, using information provided by the museum curators. They facilitate a level of direct interaction between visitors and the artwork that would have been hard to imagine before. The design flourishes of the wooden lectern also add elegance and foster a sense of physicality for the user; people genuinely take hold of the conversation. “Since December 2023 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, two paintings, including The Cattle Shed by Jenny Montigny, directly answer visitors’ questions,” says Dennis Lippens. “The project had 2,600 interactions in one month, which raised our expectations and generated excitement on the feedback, which was 95% positive.” A tool for the future? To be continued.
LOSONNANTE, by Losonnante
Bone conduction has already been used for artistic sound-listening devices (including in Julien Clauss’s Stimuline), but with Losonnante, the company of the same name began using this method for people to listen to audio content in museums and cultural spaces. It was initially developed to help improve inclusivity—researcher Cindy Lebat, author of a study on Losonnante’s use by deaf and hard-of-hearing people, had previously emphasized its potential for this purpose—but now the device targets a broader audience. “You place your elbows on our sound terminal and vibrations travel through the bones to your hands, which you then place on your ears,” explains Chloé Loreto, press officer for Losonnante.
Independently operated, low-profile, and above all sensory—meaning it requires no equipment, headphones, or earbuds—Losonnante aims to transform the simple act of listening into a memorable, intimate experience. “At the Musée national Jean-Jacques Henner, Losonnante added an immersive dimension to a show focused on women artists of the 19th century,” says Chloé Loreto. “Two sound terminals in the center of the exhibition broadcast excerpts from letters written by Jean-Jacques Henner’s students, which allowed visitors to perceive their confessions as if they had been addressed to them directly.”
Holographic Device, by Monolithe Studio
Holograms come from holography—a relief photography process—and their displays of floating 3D images remain a powerful part of our innovative digital storytelling toolkit, including for practitioners Monolithe Studio in Nancy. Coming from the world of cinema and staging, and with a team that includes a PhD-holding ancient-history guide-lecturer, the studio knows how to pick the most aesthetically pleasing elements that also “ensure the stories we tell are scientifically rigorous,” explains co-director Gaspard Bergeret.
For the Château de Malbrouck, the studio used holography to stage a fictional press conference—broadcast “live” by two scientists—to explain to audiences “the role played by a mysterious, uniquely sized furnace found during a dig in the castle’s foundations.” “It’s an immersive, scripted experience where the two scientists explore their research and challenge their hypotheses about how the furnace works,” says Bergeret. “They end up mainly activating the visitor’s imagination.” This immersive holographic experience provides clues for immediately understanding the historical experience when you’re inside the furnace room, which has been transformed into an immersive space at the beginning of the castle tour.
TIMESCOPE ONE, by Timescope
It’s impossible to completely overlook VR devices (who could?), so we picked Timescope One, which combines virtual reality, spatialized sound and a sculptural object/device. It’s an interactive, tactile terminal with a striking design with the precision of a telescope and the shape and ergonomics of a periscope. “The periscope is designed to let the user rotate and explore a 360° environment, immersing them in it through a piece of street furniture that’s resistant to weather and vandalism,” explains project manager Gabrielle François. “It’s a unique object that transports visitors into the past while they remain anchored in situ.”
“It opens a window onto places, eras, and realities that have disappeared and transforms every visit into a sensory, emotional experience.” In Trélazé (Maine-et-Loire), visitors can use the terminal to descend into a slate mine and explore extraction techniques from a site that has since become completely inaccessible. In doing so, it helps users share “a collective memory that might otherwise remain buried.”
REAL ILLUSIONS ARCARD, by REAL ILLUSIONS
Have you ever wished you could really relive the experience after you visit a heritage site or museum? The REAL ILLUSIONS ARCARD makes it happen by combining a classic postcard with interactive digital aspects. The result is “an unexpected fusion between a traditional, timeless, and universal object and a modern, innovative technology,” explains Philippe Font, CEO of REAL ILLUSIONS. With a special app (free on all app stores) you can scan the postcard from your phone (no QR code!) to reveal a full range of content—videos, 3D animations, historical narratives, multilingual interviews, quizzes and interactive games—that let visitors keep exploring the site.
“There are also other ways of using it, including to learn about the medieval heritage of the Château de Castelnou in the Pyrénées-Orientales,” continues Philippe Font. Long before the visit starts, the postcard provides access to a 3D model of the castle and an audio guide, which help visitors get ready. On-site, its interactive features let visitors zoom in on architectural details, hear historic anecdotes, and check out animated re-creations of major events from the site’s history. Postcards are then distributed at the end of the visit, becoming a tool for promoting and mediating the site..