The museum beckons: Beacon technology goes high culture

Antwerp – Digital communications agency Prophets has collaborated with Rubens House, the former home and current museum of artist Peter Paul Rubens, to create an interactive museum experience using beacon technology.

Beacons’ capability of using location-based tracking to push information to mobile devices has led to much discussion in the retail world, so it is interesting to see beacons being used for something other than sending deals to a shopper’s phone. At Rubens House, visitors were given an iPad loaded with an app that worked in conjunction with Apple’s iBeacons. As visitors wandered through the museum, they were prompted by the app to explore further – enhancing the visit through augmented reality and interactive quizzes and content.

The success of the trial has led to Prophets joining forces with Musea Antwerpen to investigate the possibilities of beacons in all of the city’s museums.

For more on the rise of beacons, read our Beacon Retail microtrend.