Anywhere otherwise the fantasy of the architects does not seem to be inspired in such a way as with the new building of museums. They indeed experienced a singular success history in the past years. There are 6,000 museums alone in Germany and several thousands will be it worldwide. Nevertheless always new museums are added, are extended, or enhanced - and that although the urban budgets are actually insolvent. But the cities recognized that museums are an investment into the future ability of a municipality, that they count to the "soft" location factors. The individual cities exceed themselves at museum buildings with unusual forms, as spaceships of the art they became new landmarks of the cities. A view into the statistics shows, how the interest in presentations at museums has grown. If there was end of the 60's still 14 million visitors in German museums, there are today meanwhile more than 100 millions. Public success becomes however ever more a load; because how one can still win attention also in the future? Always more innova­tive and more extra-ordinary medium and space installations draw into the houses; the time of the museums as pure storage place from works of art is past.  With assistance of sensors the attention of the visitors is directed on exhi­­bits, which awake by audio and visual effects "to life". Sound and listening stations tell stories in different lan­gua­ges. An exciting representation of complicated and complex contents in an easily understandable form is made possible by the employment of video and audio, 2D and 3D-animation in combination with lighting effects. Above all the multimedia experience center affects younger visitors like a public magnet. Even if it is the priority task of museums to collect and to scientifically analyze and to aesthetically present historical articles, they carried out in the meantime a paradigm change, i.e. the social change from the industrial to the information and communication society. This paradigm change results from consciousness that a museum lives particularly on its visitors and less on its exhibits. Museums from today interact in an area of conflict of two responsibilities: on the one side they must receive the integrity from objects as pieces of evidence of a certain reality, on the other side they must contribute by their use to the social develop­ment. An important task of museums consists therefore of bringing together past and present producing the values and qualities which are to be called future. Favorable conditions for an implementation of this requirement are given under conditions of fantasyful playing and critical reflection at a place of exploring, discovering and developing - in the museum as a multimedia experience place. The new museum types do not make only history descriptive and help to be able to understand the present better but they accept the character of future workshops. As innovation drivers apply the technical museums, which have to take less consideration for sensitive exhibits and therefore are able to experi­ment even with more movable areas and innovative methods.

The „Aquarius" Wassermuseum  in Mül­heim an der Ruhr already provided at the beginning of the 90's for attention by its exhibition completely based on multimedia presentation. A goal of the planners was it to obtain with the visitor a lasting learning effect.  On 14 levels in the "Aquarius" the knowledge over water was made multimedially understandable . The visitor experienced thereby at 30 stations its information itself.  Already at that time a magnetic card, which served as key for numerous computer simulations, films and plays, opened the entrance into the world of the water. The results of many play and Quiz questions could be individually printed out at the end of the attendance.  The visitor was held not on the level of individual application, but led rather from a station to the next. Besides the entire surrounding field was included into the concept. The Mülheim Water museum was already at that time not only a museum with multimedia elements, but rather an interactive and multimedia total experience.

Also impressing was the terminal "Columbus plans the west travel", that on the occasion of the Columbus year 1992 was shown from the  Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preussischer Kul­turbesitz in the exhibition "America 1492 - 1992: New worlds - new realnesses " in the Berlin Mar­tin-Gropius-Bau. The visitors could gain at the terminals that partially only since short time well-known knowledge of the historians, e.g. that Christoph Columbus falsified his log book. The two chapters, one to Kolumbus ' driving planning and one to his actual travel routes, contained always further screens with additional information beside several sequential learning screens e.g. clarifying the question, as Columbus let the oceans shrink with its computation, in order to convince the sponsors from his journey. In addition digitized photos and music with language, animations and videos were combined.

At five terminals one could enter in the special exhibition "With skin and hair", which were to be seen from June 1996 until February 1997 in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, into the world of the sound and could inform itself among other things over the cultural role of the Japanese Schamisen, the Indian Vina or the Arab Ud  and listen into its sound width.  Music ­ethno­lo­gers of the University of Cologne supported the extensive and scientifically founded application, so that thereby the understanding could be promoted for it that Europe stood to all times in fertilizing interrelations to non-European cultures. This project was considered at that time as singular pilot project within the range of the switching of musical contents with help of new media.

The Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) in Karlsruhe argues among other things with the Museum für Neue Kunst and the Me­dien­museum with the new media in theory and practise, tests with self-developments their potential, presents possible usages exemplarily and argues critically with the organization of the information society. Here the museum is understood as it were as play and learning place. The possibility is given to the visitor to approach this medium and its functions at computer tables and kiosk terminals  and to release questions depending upon knowledge conditions or desire and to develop, found and extend authority.

Room installations and the integration of the fronts into mediale productions - today already a matter of course - already became realized by the Kunsthaus Bre­genz on the occasion of the exhibition "Environ­men­tal Works 1968 - 1999", a retrospective on New Yorker artists the Keith Sonnier. The glass facade of the art gallery was changed to a far visible object. The appearing fragmentary number sequences represented visually the forthcoming century change. An oversized "400", distributed on three front sides, was considered as symbol to the time, in which Romans made themselves cosy in Brigantium.

With light, sound, displays and smelling stations in the year 2000 the visitors of the exhibition "Pharmacy" were taken in the Deutsches Museum in Munich on a "journey into the microcosmos" with which all senses of the visitors were addressed and waked emotions. Center and spacecontrolling eyecatcher was the accessible model of a human cell with a length of eleven meters and a diameter of approximately six meters, whose surface was taped with moved light, as it were produced by light. The purposeful employment of color, light and material deter­mined the atmosphere of the rooms and let become the exhibition a visual experience.

The virtual showroom medien.welten of the Techni­sches Museum in Vienna inserts a RFID-based smart.card, which registers the way of the visitor through the exhibition as well as each consulting of a kiosk terminal. Besides it makes possible to collect and carry forward digital exhibition elements such as pictures, texts,  sounds and videos and to process them at the work stations in the showroom. It functions in addition also as a key, with which the visitor can access via homepage from at home into the virtual showroom view its personal contents for three months.

Admits became London Science Museum in recent time by the exhibition "The Science of Aliens" from October 2005 until February 2006. In an interactive meeting area the visitors could step directly into contact with Aliens. The creatures living on the planets "Aurelia" and "Blue Moon" moved dynamically in virtual landscapes. Over a contact-sensitive surface of 2 meters width and 7.5 m length the visitors interacted with the two different worlds. They could watch not only the Aliens at their existence, but exerted also additionally influence on the behavior and the actions of the creatures.

The Children's Museum of Memphis already uses since 1997 kiosk terminals  to let children between 1 and 12 year as well as their parents learn on them and in addition to point out  to them which chances there are for them within different areas. By the example of a "Air Traffic Controller" kiosk in a re-built control tower they learned what air traffic controllers have to do in a real flying operation. At „Your House, My House"-Kiosks they could build a house by themselves and arrange each room individually. "Going Places" is a flight simulator kiosk, which lets children themselves build an airplane, with which it afterwards they could fly over the skyline of Memphis.

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam museum has hung up approx.. 60 to 80 works of art physically in its rooms and further 2,000 paintings (up to a later time even 117,000) can be looked it in the "Willem van the Vorm Digital Depot" virtually at the interactive "Data Wall" consisting of six monitors. This Digital Depot is unique in a museum and ist one of the most important parts of the new museum. In this area, di­rectly behind the entrance attention is focused on interaction between the public. In front of the arts there are 1 by 1,30 metre transparent  touch­screens, about which the visitor can inform in detail about the respective work of art;  furthermore, he can enlarge and drag the image, turn them and view them from all sides. The second high­light in the Digital Depot is the „Data Cloud" which is directly linked with the collection registry of the mu­seum and presents real-time the total collection of about 117.000 objects as coloured point on a 3D wall, which is defined by the three axles date of the acquisition, date of the production and format of the object. Thus the visitors can "fly" through the entire museum collection and can also see how much of the entire collection can be viewed in the museum at the time of his visit or has been loaned to exhibitions elsewhere.

With the interactive installation "Time/Magnifying Glass" the Museum Ca­ro­lino Augusteum in Salz­burg made new fascinating views on Johann Michael Sattler's famous Salzburg pano­rama painting of 1829 possible for museum visitors. A freely before the painting adjustable "Time/Magnifying Glass" installation enables the visitor to explore  Sattler's panorama step by step; thus one can change as desired between the year 1829 and the present, as the picture of the past is over-dazzled with current viewss and permits detailed comparisons. The virtual picture of the present overlays the historical view of Salzburg, like it is held in the painting, with a real panorama photography, which was taken up by the same locations, which also the pain­ter had taken. In the historical level there are marked over 60 hotspots, over which the viewer can additionally call up via the  touchscreen detailed information of artistically or historically interesting painting parts, of the history of buildings, of landscape parts also from times before the emergence of the panorama and also something about the presented person groups. Original sounds from the city life enrich and enhance the optical experience. The singular interactive multimedia conversion the historical panorama and the connection to the today's view make the "time/magnifying glass" the ideal addition of the presentation of the extra-ordinary large painting.

With the opening of the new building in December 2003 the Deutsche Technikmuseum Berlin presented on 6,600 square meter one of the world-wide largest exhibitions to the 10.000 years old history of the navigation and set thereby particularly on the deployment of new media. Along the main passage in the permanent exhibition "Environment Ship" 28 interactive terminals were used, which offer deepening information to the issued exhibits of the navigation. With the installation "The instruction for Sailing"  it should be reconstructed as authentic as possible an instruction for sailing of Melchior Lorichs from 1568 to sail into the Elbe to Hamburg. In the midst of a 180° projection the visitors took the role of an attendant of a trading ship and obeyed the instructions of the captain, in order to bring the virtual ship securely to Hamburg. For the interactive installation landscape, water, ships and buildings have been arranged in the style of the Elbkarte of 1568.

The storm tide world  Blanker Hans in Büsum at the North Sea Coast is an experience world, in which the history of the region, the information and experience in a special way are linked with one another. The visitors experience there since April 2006 the storm tide with all senses. For this multimedia-interactive knowledge terminals with video contributions were conceived, Internet-based terminals with visual effects were combined as well as a computer-controlled wind machine was installed. After a turbulent journey in a rescue cab the visitor arrives into the "offshore lab", where two large switching walls expect him to the ranges of topics weather and climate with numerous integrated large sized screens and behind-shone info boards. Enjoyable and discovering learning is the center of attention here, as with all interactive media of the "Blanken Hans". Fascinated by the technical surface and drug along by means of the exciting contents the visitors inform about the storm tide producing natural phenomena. A special highlight hides itself behind the weather switching wall. Two large ventilators provide there for a genuine gale. The visitors select the desired wind force on a touchscreen , receive immediately the most important information and can hold their hands into the storm producing wind machine.

In the exhibition "Homeland and Exile - Emigration of the German Jews after 1933", which is shown from September 2006 until April 2007 in the  Jüdisches Museum Berlin and from in the middle of May 2007 in the Haus der Geschich­te in Bonn and afterwards in the Zeit­­geschichtlichen  Forum in Leipzig, a mediale installation tells to the visitors of pursuit and escape preparation, of itineraries into an uncertain future and particularly of the new start in a strange world The interface of the exhibit is based on a map of the world in the year 1939. By control with a rotary button the visitor selects one of more than 80 countries and receives information about the selected emigration place and with him connected fates. An info ticker fades in worth knowing in text and picture form. At the exhibit up to three users can independently interact and experience history. Depending upon choice of the individual visitor the information is either in German or in English.

On the occasion of the 50 year-anniversary of the signing of the Austrian state contract in the Schloss Bel­vedere in Vienna in May 2005 the exhibition "The New Austria" was opened. Medium stations along a 250 meters long red-white-red flag trace invited the visitors to be concerned interactively with the history of Austria Thus hearing judges for the topic "decay and re-orientation" offer historical audio docu­ments by emperor Franz Joseph, during projected fixed images give impressions from the First World War. An interactive encyclopedia of the occupation time gave visitors the possibility of calling up information up by activating terms from A to Z on a sensitiven surface and viewing in such a way terms from that time. Central element was beside the historical exhibits and selected works of art the "flag trace". The visitor became an actor: if he looked by a magnifying glass, he regarded slides ; if he operated the keys of a computer quiz, he could participate in a historical question game. On a sensitiven surface appeared hundreds of terms to a topic. As soon as the visitor touched it, they presented  their meaning in the form of texts, pictures, sounds, videos and animations. These installations have been awarded with the iF communication design award 2006 in Gold, the reddot design award 2006 and the Bronze Medal 2006 of the Art Directors Club von Deutschland.

The list of interesting  museum applications is - as already mentioned - very long. Further informationen you will find shortly in the „MediaCityReport"- the extensive study about the practical deployment of Kiosk terminalsand Digital Signage all abover the world.