Tate has won two BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards 2002. Tate Online, sponsored by BT, won the award for Accessibility for i-Map, a web-based resource for visually impaired people, sponsored by ICAP plc. Tate’s Multimedia Tour project, sponsored by Bloomberg, won the award for Technical Innovation.
Alex Beard, Deputy Director, Tate, said
Tate is delighted to have won two BAFTA awards for accessibility and innovation. With the help of sponsors such as Bloomberg, BT and ICAP plc we hope to continue to push the boundaries.
Tate Online was also nominated for the Online Learning award, and the Multimedia Tour was nominated for the Offline Learning award. Lord Puttman in his closing words at the ceremony at Grovesnor House, singled out Tate, commending it for its ambition and achievements in the digital arena, on public sector budgets.
Tate’s i-Map is the UK’s first on-line art resource for visually impaired people and was launched to coincide with the hugely successful Matisse Picasso exhibition at Tate Modern. It was created by Caro Howell, Curator, and Daniel Porter, web author. The website incorporates text, image enhancement and deconstruction, animation and raised images. i-Map will expand over time to include works by other artists.
Tate’s Multimedia Tour was the first pilot project in the UK to use wireless technology to deliver a stimulating variety of material to museum visitors, enhancing their experience of a gallery visit. Via a hand-held computer (HP’s iPAQ 3800), visitors to Tate Modern’s Collection Displays could see video and still images that gave additional context for the works on display, and could listen to an expert talk about details of a work, while the details were simultaneously highlighted on their screen. Interactive screens encouraged visitors to respond to the art on view, for instance by answering questions or by layering a collection of sound clips to create their own soundtrack for a work. The three month trial was developed by Jane Burton, Curator, in association with Antenna Audio, with support from Nykris.
The two award winning projects are part of Tate Modern’s innovative programme of interpretation and education, and reflect the gallery’s commitment to developing the next generation of multimedia learning tools. Audio programmes at Tate are sponsored by Bloomberg. Programmes for visually impaired people at Tate Modern are supported by ICAP plc. Tate Online, powered by BT Openworld, has grown to be among the most successful museum sites in the world, with visitors from more than 140 countries in 2001.
Since BT and BT Openworld became Tate Online’s partners, visitor figures have almost doubled, with May 2002 registering 197,000 unique visitors, the highest figure to date.