Cultural Heritage: Pittsburgh in 2317 #MCN2017

This audio guide was developed during the Museum Computer Network workshop The Future of Cultural Heritage: Science Fiction, Design Thinking, and Museums.In this workshop, we used science fiction and speculative design as a framework to probe the historical roles and functions of museums and imagine how they might look 300 years from now. During the first part of the workshop, we reviewed representations of museums and cultural heritage in science fiction—from The Time Machine’s reappropriation of museum objects to Interstellar’s velvet-rope displays at Cooper Station—as well as discussed contemporary projects that use the museum or archive model to imagine alternative futures.Fueled by this discussion, participants in the workshop designed an audio guide from the year 2317. Each team was assigned an object or landmark in downtown Pittsburgh to respond to. By the end of the session, participants created an interpretive audio guide through a speculative fiction lens, exploring the impact of what we do and deem culturally valuable today has on our collective future histories.