Our ambition is to develop an open-source multifaceted digital interface that could be used by researchers, artists and institutions to achieve better insights on both the artistic process and the appreciation of art. It could help creating a more fulfilling museum experience based on the feedback of individual visitors; targeting a specific group audience or capturing the way visitors experience artworks. We see this as the first step to creating a digital archive of audience reception, that could be used by future generations to access what art meant, felt and looked like for the people that it was created for.

When trying to make sense of art, we are asked to engage with it on several levels: cognitive thinking, learning behaviours, emotional responses, imaginative reactions, etc. iMEMA will use different methods for detecting physical, behavioural, and psychological changes to capture the multiple dimensions of the experience. This multi-modal approach offers the opportunity to make non-dogmatic insights about both the meaning of artworks and the significance of those artworks to museums and artists.

The UI prototype developed during the initial stages of the iMEMA project will be tested in multiple contexts, like art research, art creation, art appreciation, and even more. The iMEMA interface can enable a better understanding of the application of art in institutions other than museums, such as healthcare and education for improved and customised care, therapy or study plans.