Project 4 Report
Exploring Picasso's Guernica
J Burgess, J Park, A Slaughter, A Townsend
15 Mar 2001
Background and Process
The four of us first met to brainstorm about project ideas. We made a list of 80+ project
possibilities that ranged from looking at the question of which came first the chicken or the
egg to the mysteries of easter island. We took this massive list and found themes in the
ideas. This helped us narrow the list into 6 ideas, which we market researched. Although
our market research found that exploring DNA was the most popular idea, we were not
particularly thrilled with the prospect of developing it into a project. We decided to
brainstorm some more. We wanted the user to explore any environment we would create.
This idea eventually led to the Guernica.
Online research of Guernica showed that there were lots of interesting things related to the
Guernica.

Picasso never officially interpreted the symbolism and imagery of the mural

Picasso had never been very politically minded with his art until this mural

There was a lot going on in Spain and in the world at the time that the mural was
completed

There are hidden images that can be found if the mural’s clarity and lightness are
altered.
The market research and the online findings initially inspired us to create a kiosk that would
be in a modern art exhibit in the midst of other works by Picasso. Initially we had several
goals for the visitor’s experience.
1. We wanted the visitor to see the hidden images that had already been found.
2. We wanted visitors to be able to manipulate the image so that they could find their own.
3. We wanted to provide a way for visitors to make an interpretation of the mural or part
of the mural
4. We wanted visitors to learn that context and the artist’s frame of mind inform the
interpretation of the art.
5. We also wanted to provide expert interpretations and other tools that would help visitors
form their own interpretation.
We then created user profiles and scenarios and user tested the navigation. The feedback we
got from users suggested that we needed to be more clear in how the users would go
through the exhibit. The first design of the kiosk included an objective, introduction to the
history, and other context building information.
We also contacted David Ross, the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
We asked for feedback on the idea and posed questions such as the maintenance required to
filter through the visitors’ interpretations.
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From user testing, we realized that there were too many features and that users were still
unclear about the path through the system. We decided to modify the features to viewing
hidden images, discovering new hidden images, and adding the work to a visitors’ gallery.
These features were satisfying to us because it made it a living exhibit, which was
collaborative and participatory. Also, it offered the new experience of manipulating and
changing a great piece of artwork. Finally, it was fun.
We moved towards prototyping these features, but could not fully let go of the importance
of understanding the context when looking at art. We also wanted knew that it was difficult
for the user to experience the full effect of the Guernica on a computer screen. The
Guernica is actually 11 by 26 feet, and a computer-screen sized representation does not do it
justice. We had originally thought of solving this problem by using a “Smart board” sized
screen. However, this was still far from optimal, because it did not relay the importance of
context in experiencing art. Art is more meaningful when history and artist’s perspectives
are included. We knew that Picasso’s life and the local and global history around the
Guernica would have to be included somehow in the exhibit.
These issues helped to push us in the direction of expanding from a kiosk to a gallery in a
museum. The gallery provides an immersion into the world of Guernica. The walls devoted
to history and Picasso offer information that may help the visitor to understand the art. The
space allows for two large screens, one that has a scaled version of the Guernica, and the
second that shows the visitor’s interaction with the activity podium. The two large screens
make the exhibit collaborative on a second level by allowing the bystander to have an
experience by watching the interaction of another visitor on the large screen. The room is
large enough to do everything that we wanted in some way. Let’s see what it’s all about.
View Hidden Images



See images that have already been found within the painting and that are symbolic to
Picasso
Give the user some control over how they see those images:
o Play (automatic reveal)
o Frame by Frame (they control the speed)
Give some explanation of the significance of the images
View Hidden Images is where we wanted to allow the user to see images that had already
been found within the painting and that were symbolic to Picasso. We didn’t want to present
them with a bunch of still images, so we created a sequence of images that would slowly
reveal to the user the hidden image. The question then became how would the image be
revealed to them? Is this going to be automatic or are they going to be able to control the
speed at which they see it? In one round of user testing we had a button that said
"AutoReveal” and a slider next to it. It wasn’t apparent to the users what these things did at
first, but when they discovered their use or were explained their functionality most users felt
they would like to be able to have both features available. The question then became how do
we give them this functionality and make it more apparent? Our answer was to familiar
symbols for play, pause, forward and reverse. During subsequent testing this worked much
better.
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Finally, we added some text to explain the images they were looking at and the significance
of them. The user does not have to read the information in order to interact with the piece,
but it is there for them if they want to know more.
Discover New Hidden Images
At the beginning, it was difficult for all of us to see the hidden images in Guernica. In fact, at
that point hidden images were just another interesting aspect of the Guernica, not at all the
main focus of this application. However, we eventually were able to see the hidden images,
and realized the importance of having tools to modify the original image while attempting to
find hidden images. It certainly wasn't enough to use just our eyes and brains.
We decided to provide visitors with the means to manipulate the image to help them see
things they wouldn’t otherwise see.
To manipulate the image, the user moves and resizes the blue box. She can then make the
selected area of the image more clear or fuzzy, and modify the contrast. In this way, visitors
can attempt to find hidden images and symbolism within the Guernica, and offer opinions
on the meaning to each other.
After finding hidden images, the visitor can save it to a gallery by clicking the "Save to
Gallery" button.
Visitor's Gallery
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View Hidden Images
Discover New Hidden Images
Visitor's Gallery
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