The story begins ...
The first time that the “Speaking Object” project found a chance to have a real test run in a real context, was at The Metropolitan Museum of Art at NYC. They were the first ones to believe in this startup and let us bring our idea there to test it in the real world. The story began long ago with a legendary master in the field of epigraphy of Islamic inscriptions, the late Abdullah Ghouchani. Abdullah was a long-trusted scholar at The Met and used to work with them for more than three decades. He also was a teacher and friend of Dr. Farsimadan, so he was the first one who heard about the idea of the project. After producing a lot of trial videos and mobile apps by Dr. Farsimadan and Mr. Chengelvaee, they finally reached a stable stage of the project that convinced Abdullah it is time for a real test run. He discussed the matter with the head of the Islamic Art department at The Met, Dr. Navina Haidar. Unfortunately, although Dr. Haidar was interested in the project, it was time that pandemic hit the world and almost every business closed. Two years passed and we lost Abdullah along with many other souls due to COVID-19.
Test run at THE MET ...
As soon as the COVID situation got better, Dr. Haidar and Dr. Maryam Ekhtiar made everything possible for a short-term test run at The Met. The test run began in April 2022 and lasted until the end of September of the same year. During that time the team was able to work on four distinctive objects from the Islamic department and bring them to life. However, the lack of time caused everyone to be just satisfied with videos as results, instead of a full package of videos and mobile apps. Selected objects were from different originations such as Anatolia, the Middle East and Middle Asia. You can find more information about the project from THE MET website, if you click here. Also, below this section, the resulting videos of each object in the “Speaking Object” style are available to watch.
In-Gallery survey at THE MET ...
One of the best results of the test run was a two-month in-gallery survey that showed the potential of the project for visitors to the museums. The survey took place between July to August 2022, in Gallery 455 at The Met Fifth Avenue. Participants got first introduced to the “Speaking Object” project itself and then they were supposed to answer a few questions. Participation was not limited by age or education level and the personal information of contributors was not recorded. During about 20 sessions a number of 175 people engaged in the survey and shared their opinion about the project with us. It is interesting to see how they are willing to see more objects involved in the “Speaking Object” project. If you want to examine the results, click here.
