Unguided audio
Reimagining the art museum audio tour as a dynamic, unguided experience that places the artist’s voice at the forefront and encourages visitors to follow their own path.
Dora welcome sequence - created by Today Strategic Design
When the new expanded Art Gallery of New South Wales campus opened in December 2022, the web app Dora was launched to deliver audios about selected artworks as well as architectural and landscape highlights.
Simple to use, Dora can be accessed via any smart device browser and offers a variety of voices – as well as music – to connect visitors with the art as they enjoy an unguided wander – rather than a directed audio guide – through the art museum.
Finding Dora
Dora is available via agnsw.art/dora and linked to from the visit section of the Art Gallery website. There are also QR codes on selected wall labels and on our printed campus maps, and you can always ask one of our staff members for assistance.
When first accessing Dora, you will be directed to look for and enter the numbers on artwork and exhibition wall labels in order to access any associated audios.
Dynamic content
Dora delivers a variety of audio and narrative styles. There are curator-read labels along with more conversational ‘podcast-like’ moments with artists, such as Francis Upritchard speaking of her inspirations and the complex making process behind the towering figures of her artwork Here Comes Everybody, which welcomes visitors to our new North Building.
This rich variety of content is offered from within playlists of short, themed clips about collection artworks on display in the Art Gallery campus. The playlist model, as well as being a familiar user experience, also offers flexible visitor engagement, where you can choose a short one-track listen or a longer multi-track immersion.
Playlist selection
There are over 100 audios on Dora and more will be added regularly as we continue to record artist, curator and creator voices. We want to keep things fresh, so if an artwork comes off display in the physical gallery, then the accompanying audios will be removed from the app as well.
The removed audios won’t disappear completely though; they’ll continue to be available within the Art Gallery's greater online presence and may return to Dora as part of a different collection hang.
Music streams
Music is an essential part of Dora’s audio identity. Each track features an underscore composed by local musician Maria Moles, adding a continuity and subtle atmosphere to each playlist. We also commissioned the ROOM40 record label to produce a long-play music track ‘Even the horizon knows its bounds’, composed by Laurence English and featuring the likes of Chris Abrahams and Jim O’Rourke. This composition is an artwork that visitors can listen to as they wander the Art Gallery spaces or anywhere at any time.
Eyes-up design
We wanted to keep the user interface design clear and elegant and the interaction simple, even familiar, with the use of number inputs. This approach supports an important aim to give users a seamless eyes-up experience so they can easily connect with the artwork while listening.
Clear and elegant interface design
From here. For all.
Dora is built with inclusive design principles at its core. Access features are woven into the main offering. Each audio clip has a corresponding transcript in English, with plans to offer other languages as well. We also worked with ABC broadcaster Nas Campanella to write and record audio descriptions (ADs) for each of the featured artwork playlists and plan to keep adding more. The interface design is easy to read and navigate, and all text can be easily enlarged across the app. There are also links out to further information about the artworks and other Art Gallery information if needed.
A record of your path
Dora’s peg-board-Iike dotted interface becomes populated with images as the listener engages with audios while they move through the art museum. When the visit is completed, there is a visualisation of the path taken for personal reference and to share with others.
Your path
Listen in
On your next visit to the Art Gallery, remember to bring your preferred listening device and headphones or earbuds to enjoy a deeper connection with the art, the artists and the place itself: agnsw.art/dora
Sustainable technology
Dora is maintained inhouse by the Digital engagement team and the code and content sit within our new Digital Experience Platform (the DXP). This platform drives the Art Gallery website, the collection online and our artist archive. From within the DXP infrastructure, the Dora content can be easily managed, updated and shared between our online sites. This makes the app easier to maintain, sustain and evolve than has previously been possible with our other audio products.
Creating Dora
The production of Dora was a collaborative effort and involved, and continues to involve, many of our Art Gallery colleagues as well as the artists and creators who contributed their time and conversation.
Art Gallery of New South Wales Project team:
Project lead – Francesca Ford
Project co-ordinator – Flora Suen
Technical lead – Jay Smith
Curatorial liaison – Jackie Dunn
Music curator – Jonathan Wilson
Sound recordist – Kenneth Mitchell
Visual and technical design partners – Today Strategic design
Audio production partners – Audiocraft
What’s in a name?
In case you wondered, Dora is a subtle reference to the artists in the Art Gallery’s collection. The namesake Dora Ohlfsen was one of the first women to have her work included within the collection in the early 20th century.