Activity Theory, Hybrid Experience Space Design and Cultural Heritage Communication at Lindholm Høje

This paper deals with the questions of how to address the communication of cultural heritage in the post-industrialized societies of the globalized economy. The last two or three decades have radically changed the relationship between the individual and the national institutions, encompassing the institutions of cultural heritage, museums and foundations. From an expert founded representation of facts, based on a rational and linear understanding of knowledge being presented to a mass customer, to a situation where an individualized customer, accustomed to a range of choices and the ability to interact, demands more from the visit to a museum. The authors are advocating an approach to this area based on the theoretical framework of Activity Theory, involving a reframing of the tool definition, pointing to the role of interactive digital technologies in a constructivist learning approach. Based on a specific case in a Danish setting, the Museum of Lindholm Høje, the paper outlines the theoretical as well as the practical approaches for a constructivist thinking-tool, based on Mixed Reality digital technologies.