Towards a Cultural Ecosystem: Museum Narration Meets Conservation Issues

This contribution starts from the most recent theories in the field of communication sciences regarding narrative ecosystems and hypothesizes their application in the cultural and museum field, creating a sort of “cultural ecosystem” through the use of ICT. In particular, this study starts analysing an initiative designed by the National Gallery of London entitled “Jan van Huysum Visits”: during 2021, the painting “Flowers in a Terracotta Vase” travelled to six different regions in the UK and it was exhibited in unusual locations, to bring the less accustomed public closer to visiting museums, also designing recreational activities related to the artwork, and collaboration with local institutions. Although virtuous from the point of view of creating truly extended experiences around the museum collections, these projects risk not keeping in the right mind the theme of conservation of the artworks, which can be compromised by continuous movements or exhibitions in places that are not suitable from the microclimatic point of view. This study presents some applications to propose a practical solution, replicable and able of combining the conservation needs of works of art with the new narrative and ecosystemic perspectives that we hope for museum use. This goal can be achieved using digital technologies, which allow the reproduction of the physicality of artworks and different insights into diverse content. Referring to new information architecture and documentation systems, we can develop a new concept of sustainable digital heritage also creating some ad hoc digital platforms for the narration of all aspects of conservation.