A museum in New York now allows visitors to digitally modify the exhibits

In theater, the “fourth wall” is the invisible barricade at the front of the stage, through which the audience observes the action while the players act as though the audience isn’t there. If such a thing exists in museums—and it does, in the form of glass casing and “Please don’t touch” signs—the newly renovated Cooper Hewitt is taking a step towards getting rid of it. This December, after three years of renovation, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (formerly Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum) in New York will reopen with 60 percent more gallery space than before, and a range of new interactive technologies by Local Projects that will let visitors engage with the museum’s collection in a totally novel way. In the revamped Cooper Hewitt, still in Carnegie Mansion, there will be around 15 new interactive screen displays where users can draw, design, and virtually explore the Cooper Hewitt collection. Much of this will happen via an electronic pen conceived by Local Projects and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and designed by Cooper Hewitt, GE, Sistelnetworks and Undercurrent. Each is paired with a unique URL on the visitor’s ticket, and as guests pass through different galleries they can touch the tip of their pen to wall text next to objects they find interesting, or inspiring.1The pen then stores those selections.