Promotion of the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin by AR and Digital Fabrication: Lady Yang

A fundamental aspect of visiting museums is the involvement of visitors to facilitate the understanding of the collections on display [Black 2005, p. 7]: museums must therefore adopt techniques derived from the fields of relational and experiential marketing to improve the services offered.This contribution focuses on an ongoing experience, conducted at the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin (MAO), which involves the use of augmented reality (AR) combined with digital fabrication, applied in the field of cultural accessibility and marketing.In June 2021 the museum chose Lady Yang as artwork/mascot that would symbolically accompany the users in the visit path. It was decided to make this accompaniment tangible through digitally fabricated objects (a bookmark and a tactile replica) and an AR experience.The contribution wants to show the research workflow, from the digital acquisition of the artwork up to AR experience and digital fabrication, in a continuous transition between real and virtual, to demonstrate how they are mutually enriching in the visiting experience and process of knowledge.