The immediate museum

The concept of the "immediate museum," which gives the title to Giuliano Gaia's book, emerges from a growing awareness of the changed relationship between the visitor and the museum institution. This transformation is mainly attributable to the advent of digital technology, which has generated in the public the expectation of a museum interaction characterized by immediate reactions to stimuli and timely answers to questions.

This implies a perception of immediacy, almost instantaneity, in the contact with art and culture. However, in parallel, there is a desire for a direct relationship, without intermediation. In the past, the museum held exclusive control over the mediation between the visitor and the collections, defining the interpretative channels through tools such as guided tours, captions, and catalogs. In this sense, the concept of "immediacy" takes on two different connotations: on the one hand, instantaneity, on the other, the elimination of mediation.

Today, we are witnessing the emergence of new ways of accessing and questioning collections, free from traditional museum intermediation. An emblematic example is the chance, made possible by technology, of using mobile devices within the museum to obtain information, such as the description of a work of art through interaction with artificial intelligence. In this context, the museum loses its monopoly on the narration and interpretation of the works.

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