The Easy Way to Create Augmented Reality Exhibits in an Art Gallery or Museum

Kyla Ball May 6, 2025

Over the last decade, mixed reality experiences using immersive technology have become increasingly commonplace throughout museums and art galleries worldwide. Blockbuster exhibitions like “Van Gogh – The Immersive Experience” have shown us what’s now possible in the realm of gallery and museum exhibits, using animations, virtual reality, sound- and light-scapes, and many more types of interaction between the visitor, the physical space and the art pieces, exhibits or displays.

However, such interactive experiences are not limited to world-renowned museums and heritage sites with enormous budgets and many thousands of visitors per week. Neither are they the preserve of institutions with large creative and curator teams, or those that can afford to outsource production services for each exhibition. Advancements in AR applications have meant that the use of AR technology is now open to anyone, without any experience or coding expertise.

ThingLink AR Solution for Museums and Galleries

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows digital information to be added as an overlay to real, physical objects, and for the digital information to be viewed and interacted with via a screen of some sort. This could be a phone, tablet, or even a headset. ThingLink’s AR Solution was designed as the easiest and fastest way for any museum or gallery to add an AR overlay to any item, accessed by visitors on any personal mobile device, via the free ThingLink AR Viewer App. It allows any art exhibition or museum space to enhance their visitor experience and, most importantly, provide tailored content for specific audiences.

For a quick overview of how any gallery or museum experience can be enhanced with ThingLink AR, take a look at the short video below to see it in action.

Benefits of Using ThingLink’s Augmented Reality App in Museums and Galleries

• Providing an augmented reality experience for visitors creates enhanced engagement, and is a draw both for new visitors and for those who are looking for a reason to visit again.

• Different interactive AR learning experiences can be tailored for different audiences: young families, schools, adult learning groups, higher education students.

• Interactive experiences can support increased accessibility and inclusivity for diverse audiences by providing information in a range of formats.

• There is no need for audio guides, headsets, guidebooks or technical know-how. Each visitor accesses the AR experience via QR code or short code, using their own familiar device, which makes for a smoother user experience. (The app works across both Ios and Android.)

• Any ThingLink content that you create for the AR App can also be shared in a virtual exhibition or tour of the museum’s collection.

• Any changes that are required can be made instantly, and updates are applied in real time to the app. This is particularly useful if an exhibition changes, or new information comes to light on an exhibit item.

• Visitors are more likely to share AR experiences on social media, and more likely to share he experience word of mouth – promoting your gallery, museum or exhibition organically.

• With ThingLink, you can instantly see which items in your collection are being interacted with most, so you can use this data to optimize displays in the physical space, or via the digital content to appeal to visitors more effectively.

Make your first interactive item in a matter of minutes with the AR App – designed to be the easiest product of its kind. A simple drag and drop interface and intuitive, no-code creation, integrations with Canva and the Unsplash image library with over 6 million free images makes ThingLink’s AR solution so easy to learn and use.

Ways you can use the ThingLink AR App

• For functional or dynamic items, add a video of the item being used, either in its “home environment” or being demonstrated by a curator, enriching the viewer’s understanding and putting it in context

• For partial or damaged items, add images or videos of a reconstruction to show it would have looked.

• Create a linked tour of objects grouped together for a particular reason eg for young visitors, or to celebrate a particular day, or unite objects around a theme.

• Create a treasure hunt of items for younger visitors or for a special event.

• Add a personalized interactive tour or premium digital content for your supporters or members, or for an exhibition private view or opening night.

• Create interactive training materials for your staff on items in your collection. They can discretely use the AR App to refresh their learning and check information at any time.

• Increase inclusivity and accessibility by adding sign-language videos to items, or provide a tour of objects in different languages.

• For exhibitions of items by living artists, you can ask them to record video or audio to accompany each item that they have created. You can also add archive footage if appropriate to accompany older items.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Augmented Reality Experiences with ThingLink’s AR Solution

To easily create an AR experience in an art gallery or museum using the ThingLink AR solution, follow these simple steps:

1. Take a photo on any device: Capture an image of the object you want to feature in your exhibit, such as a painting, work of art or item of furniture.

2. Upload to ThingLink: Upload the picture to your ThingLink account – either on a browser or on the ThingLink App on your smartphone or tablet.

3. Add Hotspots: Use ThingLink’s main media editor to add interactive hotspots to the picture. Add text, images, videos or a combination of all three – to any hotspot.

4. Access the AR Section in the ThingLink editor: Navigate to the AR section in your ThingLink profile and add the scene to an existing AR collection, or create a new one. When prompted, add the width of the object in cm (this can be estimated if necessary.)

6. Generate Share Code: A share code will be generated for the AR collection: a 6 character code – and a QR code too. Share the codes for anyone to download the ThingLink AR App for free and interact with the collection via their own device!

Case Studies: ThingLink AR App in Action

For a real-world example of the AR solution in a museum, watch the video below from the exhibition “Accessible Expressions Ohio” which shows how a visitor downloads the AR App using a QR code on the wall, then scans a second QR code to access the exhibition collection. It really is that simple!

The use of Augmented Reality technology in museums and galleries is here to stay – but it doesn’t have to be expensive and complicated. Through virtual tours, virtual art exhibitions and now AR, ThingLink has been making cutting edge digital art technology available to everyone – widening access to art and culture like never before.

Other ways that museums, galleries and heritage bodies are using ThingLink

The strength of ThingLink lies in its versatility. Not just limited to creating virtual or AR tours, this platform provides multiple uses for any cultural organization, as the case study below from Historic Environment Scotland demonstrates. Employee professional development, public educational content, interactive schools materials, virtual tours and more are all possible from one easy-to-use and intuitive platform.

For further detailed information on using the ThingLink AR App, see our support article “ThingLink Augmented Reality (AR) mode”.