This engraved silver plate now has an artist-created soundtrack to help interpret it. Image courtesy Queens University, Belfast

Gallery visitors in Belfast will now be able to hear, as well as see, a collection of silver thanks to an innovative new project.

Hand-held computers will allow visitors to the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University to listen to ten artists’ sound interpretations of selections from the collection, exploring their origins and the reasons for their creation and use.

The computers can also be used to examine the objects in special detail with a 3-D visualisation aid allowing people to resize and rotate the chosen object.

It was made possible by a £80,000 award from Illuminate, a scheme run by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).

Illuminate was set up to encourage museums and galleries to present their exhibits in fresh and imaginative ways and has awarded more than £250,000 to this and two other projects in its latest round of funding.

Illuminate was set up to encourage innovative museum and gallery displays

“We have been blown away by the proposals we’ve received under this scheme which demonstrates that there’s a wealth of creative thinking in the museum and gallery sector,” said Sarah Maher, Programme Manager at NESTA. “We are delighted that we have been able to act as a catalyst in making this happen.”

Also in Belfast, BX (Belfast Exposed) photographic gallery received £118,725 from NESTA for their Gateways project. This will allow visitors to search a library of some 500,000 images of the region’s history to create their own virtual collections with added comments and sound.

The Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham, Yorkshire, received £80,000 for Enlighten Magna, an interactive exploration of the steel industry, using light beams to trigger extra information as visitors walk around the exhibition.

“The projects that we’ve supported in this round have all used new technologies in innovative and imaginative ways,” added Sarah. “This will not only improve the experience for the end user, but should go some way in demonstrating that the museum sector no longer deserves a reputation as outdated.”

Illuminate was launched in October 2004 and so far nine awards have been made.