With help from data, art museums are reframing the visitor experience

More extensive data use by museums has enabled a new era of individually tailored experiences, and new waves of technology have impacted everything from how art is displayed to how fragile art is preserved. But this active role in shaping museumgoers’ experiences raises questions about how museums shape and nurture cultural engagement at a time when both consumption habits and the technologies surrounding them are evolving rapidly. Artistic institutions are amassing more and more information about us, and they can now use it to guide nearly every aspect of modern artistic exposure. Museums have always conferred cultural legitimacy and served as tastemakers, but to what extent have they also become—even inadvertently—more strategic stewards of our evolving tastes and interests? And where do we go from here? As you navigate a museum, data can be generated on which paintings you visit, how long you spend viewing each one, and even where your eyes linger. Such data can lead to better layout decisions, according to a new study by Ali Aouad, a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management; Abhishek Deshmane, a professor at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Scheller College of Business; and Professor Victor Martínez de Albéniz of the University of Navarra’s IESE Business School. In their paper, published in the April 2026 print issue of Management Science, the researchers show that visitors respond to both the physical location of works and their placement on digital guides. According to the authors, a visitor’s next move—whether to view another painting, change floors, or even end a visit—can be analyzed in terms of the perceived utility, or benefit, of each option, likely weighed subconsciously. The researchers randomly selected 25,000 out of 1.5 million visits to the VGM between 2019 and 2021 and extracted data from visitor interactions with digital multimedia guides, along with the location and artistic characteristics of the museum’s collection, which contains over 4,600 works (of which approximately 200 are on display at a given time). They used this data to gain insights about visitor movement and identify “optimal” locations for pieces—those that collectively maximized viewer engagement, as measured by the expected number of pieces seen. The authors’ model, named pathway multinomial logit or “pathway MNL,” does not reveal causal effects, they caution, but the associations they uncover are informative for museum professionals. Multimedia guide users largely visited recommended artworks in the suggested order. Lisa van den Bos, product manager for digital education at the museum while the study was underway, expressed surprise that even subtle ordering changes on the guide impacted traffic patterns. “We actually have a lot of power in how we move people through,” she said. Visitors sought variety in time period and size but consistency in subject and theme, the team found. Time pressure also affected choices; as time elapsed within a given visit, people were more likely to prioritize seeing masterpieces. Designing layouts in this way is atypical, according to the authors, but it can enrich the cultural and educational value of visits. When tested on data not used to develop the pathway MNL model, it achieved 63 percent accuracy in predicting transitions between pieces; beyond this improvement over baselines, the authors verified that their results hold even when the modeling approach or assumptions change. The model was also used to predict visitors’ likelihood of reaching specific pieces (81 percent accuracy) and visitor departure rates (96 percent accuracy). The authors noted that more general forms of the model may be needed for settings with significantly larger collections or more complex physical layouts. Beyond museums, they feel their approach has direct application to other sequential experiences that blend the physical and digital, such as in entertainment, education, and retail. Following the sequential layouts study at VGM, the research team conducted a follow-on study between 2022 and 2024 that tested different approaches to combat visitor fatigue and information overload, providing digital nudges by experimentally varying actual visitor offerings on the multimedia guide. This study took existing but underutilized data, mining it for insights. Audio guides, available since at least the 1950s, remain the main way to supplement a primarily visual experience with minimal distraction, said Sandy Goldberg, who creates content for museums, including the Van Gogh, and described a “pendulum swing” that has seen museums revert to audio after exploring successive waves of more interactive technologies. “Study after study showed that what people wanted was what was called an ‘in-the-pocket’ experience, where they could take their device and just literally put it in their pocket and not think about it anymore,” she said. Though digital guides—often with multimedia capabilities supplementing audio—are now widely available, most visitors don’t use them, though their uptake has grown over time, said van den Bos. The VGM’s multimedia guide at the time of the study was a standalone device with hardware from Imagineear and software maintained by Tapart, a creative tech agency specializing in digital storytelling. Other museums allow visitors to access visit-related content on personal devices. Throughout 2023, 36 percent of VGM’s average 4,600 daily visitors booked multimedia guides (up from the 25–31 percent typical during the study). That’s high among peer institutions; sector-wide, uptake during the same period was typically closer to 10 percent for paid tours, said Sietze de Jong, creative and managing director of Tapart—which also partnered with The British Museum on the development of its audio app. Museums rarely use digital guide data—a “gold mine,” said Deshmane—for decision-making. “Every museum requests us to do analytics and include it in their audio guide… but when we ask them if they reviewed the data, they almost never have,” said de Jong, citing limited institutional capacity for data analysis. He noted that the situation has begun to change in recent years due to investment in in-house capabilities and external collaborations: “Digital teams are increasing in size, which is a positive development.” Museums also seek to ground longer-term strategic decisions more deeply in data and to measure and communicate their progress using data, according to a 2023 report by McKinsey & Company. That comes in response to expectations from trustees, funders, and governments. In 2025, the VGM announced a redesigned version of its multimedia tour, with hardware powered by Samsung and software built and maintained by NOUS Digital. The design of the guide was informed by the research teams’ insights into visitors’ actions and desires when using digital guides. Museums can use data to manage traffic by adjusting opening hours and providing navigational aids, but digital tools also enable subtler interventions. For example, recommendations can be discreetly varied throughout the day based on real-time congestion levels, said Goldberg. Perhaps the biggest opportunity created by detailed data is the ability to provide personalized recommendations. Supplementing traditional curation with analytical methods, more recently including machine learning and artificial intelligence, has become more common. The use case for personalization is especially clear within a single institution, but cross-museum applications can now also recommend that visitors explore artwork at other museums within a partner network. Decision makers must strike a delicate balance as they redefine their roles as custodians of culture in an era when technology empowers them to do so much. Not all visitors enjoy having their experiences shaped externally, of course. Kanter typically prefers “more of an organic experience,” he said, though he noted that he sometimes uses museum audio guides when seeking to gain a new perspective. Deshmane argued that the solution is to provide an “assortment” of suggestions that enables informed decisions and caters to various tastes and engagement habits. Depending on the context, these suggestions can be as subtle as presenting one piece of artwork before another on a digital guide or as explicit as generating a push notification or other nudge. Deshmane noted that “suggestion assortments” could be organized by how much time visitors have or by narrative threads. “You as a museum can do a lot more with one physical layout… if you have these digital assortments of layouts,” said Deshmane. A single “precision” cultural experience has potential downsides. While too many options can empower visitors, overpersonalizing could also create a sense of loss. “You have to make choices [such] that people don’t feel like they’re missing a lot if they’re choosing,” said Rianne van Dam, project coordinator for Digital Education at the VGM. Kanter is generally fine with museums using the vast and growing amounts of data at their disposal, as long as they address privacy concerns and think carefully about when explicit disclosures are needed. “A lot of tracking is going on in the world…I think it’s interesting that it applies to art,” he said. Leveraging technology is key to staying relevant amid changing expectations, said Birgitte Aga, head of innovation and research at MUNCH, the Oslo museum dedicated to the work of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. “If we can’t engage and create museum experiences that are both physical and virtual in a way that the next generation of users find engaging, then we’re not going to be a museum in the future.” The most visible uses of technology involve transforming artistic presentation: virtual reality and augmented reality have been used to reveal layers within art, and AR can restore historical context such as the original colors of ancient artworks, said Goldberg. “Seamless” experiences enabled by tools such as smart glasses or wearables can reduce device friction and enable interactivity. Museums are applying discretion in evaluating the dizzying array of options; according to Villaespesa, they’ve become “more mature in the use of digital.” She advises continuing to ground decisions in a user-centered perspective. “Experimentation is great… with evaluation behind it,” she said. “I think museums should test the different trends and technologies available, but I’m always thinking from the user perspective… make sure that there’s a motivation, a need, a type of user that will use it. It’s not just ‘let’s do technology for technology’s sake.’” For now, given widely varying consumer preferences, museum staff seem to view personalization as an imperative. To van Dam, tailored experiences serve the museum’s goal of disseminating van Gogh’s story. “I don’t think every visitor wants the same,” she said. “So the key, really, to reach our goal… is to personalize.” Ultimately, though, museums don’t want to become optimization machines. “They are creative spaces in the end,” said van den Bos. “It will always be a place where the story is leading and the creativity is leading.” Researchers say that data-driven and creativity-driven approaches are compatible—and that insights from tools such as digital guides can lead the way. “Use this tool first to create compelling narratives,” said Deshmane. “And then use the data that is generated for future purposes of creating more compelling narratives with the physical space as well.” Mureji Fatunde-Iloeje is an academic and writer interested in companies, industries, and consumers. Her writing, which has appeared in Bloomberg, WIRED, and MIT Technology Review, explores climate and the energy transition, social and economic policy, and the modern consumer experience.