Gaming the Museum: The Power of Open-Source Innovation in Cultural Spaces (Online)

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On June 17, 2025, discover how museums are being reimagined through open-source game design. In this live Zoom event, Swiss and U.S. collaborators behind Project AMI (Art + Museums Interacting) unpack how rapid prototyping and cross-border co-creation are turning visitors into active explorers—and transforming how institutions innovate.

Museum educators, interaction designers, and game-studio partners from Switzerland and the United States share insights from developing 20 open-source game prototypes through Project AMI (Art + Museums Interacting). Built in swift 30-day sprints and refined through public play-tests, the examples show how gamified experiences transform visitors from passive observers into curious explorers – while offering a process any institution can adopt.

Speakers outline the concrete advantages of exchanging assets, methodologies, and documentation, pooling resources across borders, and nurturing a growing international learning community. They also explore how open-source practices spark entrepreneurial energy, enabling studios to co-create with museums and keep iterating long after a project’s debut.

A spotlight on Grab it showcases how ideas flourish across institutions: originally developed by Museum Rietberg, it was later adapted with custom content for SFMOMA – illustrating how ideas travel when tools remain open.

Moderated by journalist Muriel Siki, this one-hour Zoom conversation streams June 17, 2025 at 17:00 CET / 08:00 PST, followed by live Q&A and an on-demand replay on the ArtTech YouTube channel.

Event Time

8am Pacific Standard Time (San Francisco)
5pm CET (Switzerland)

Format: Zoom Event (registered event attendees will receive a link to the Zoom event)

About the ArtTech Foundation
Founded in Switzerland in 2017, the ArtTech Foundation brings together culture, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Its mission is to promote and support the cultural and creative industries by leveraging new technologies. With a network of over 2,600 members, including researchers, artists, investors, and entrepreneurs, the Foundation encourages dialogue and collaboration at the intersection of creativity and technology. It supports a wide range of initiatives across sectors such as heritage, audiovisual media, music, interactive content, and the art market, both nationally and internationally. Among its key activities is the ArtTech Prize, an annual international competition aimed at supporting innovative entrepreneurial projects that connect arts, culture, and technology.

About Project AMI (Art + Museums Interacting)
Project AMI is a growing community of museum professionals reimagining visitor engagement through experimentation. Launched by the Max Kohler Foundation in Zurich, AMI brought together eight museums from Switzerland and the U.S. to develop and test 20 interactive, open-source prototypes with the help of Boston-based game design studio FableVision. Guided by five core principles—audience-focused, shifting mindsets, radical sharing, community of action, and playfulness—AMI invites other museums to join the movement by exploring the prototypes or connecting through events and updates at www.projectami.ch.

Program (times in PST)

8:00am – Event starts with a conversation, followed by a Q&A session and an on-demand replay on the ArtTech YouTube channel.
9:00am – Event ends

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Event start time

San Francisco
11:00PM
Switzerland
8:00AM

Speakers

Bio

Michael Koritschan
Interaction Designer at the Rietberg Museum
Born and raised in Switzerland. Currently resides in Zurich. Aside from all things visual, he is passionate about espresso, social equality and the environment.

Michael Koritschan’s artwork has been published in various magazines, exhibited in several solo and group shows in Germany, Switzerland, Morocco and the USA and featured in auctions in Paris and Chicago, his services as art director and photographer hired by many happy customers. Currently, he is employed at Museum Rietberg Zurich as Interaction Designer.

Between 2015 and 2019 he spent four years in Hamburg, Germany, raising a child, making art and working for an international ad agency. From 2010 to 2012 he was Hans Feurer’s assistant. During the summer of 2007 he was interning at David LaChapelle Studio and working as a graphic designer for Palm Pictures in New York.

Michael Koritschan studied Foundations in Photography and New Media at the Zurich University of the Arts, has graduated with a BA in Visual Communication from the Basel School of Design and studied a semester abroad at the Rhode Island School of Design, focusing on Photography and Film. More recently, he has completed CAS courses in UI/UX Design and Coding for the Arts and is enrolled in a Game Design program at the Zurich University of the Arts.
Bio

Amy Lange
Senior Program Specialist, Family Programs at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Amy Lange is an arts and education professional based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a Master’s Degree focused in Fine/Studio Arts from California College of the Arts. She is a former classroom teacher, practicing artist, and union shop steward in SFMOMA’s union, OPEIU Local 29. She is passionate about making arts education foundational and accessible to all.
Bio

Dan Krusi
Technology Lead at Nerves Agency Zürich
Dan is a seasoned technologist and entrepreneur with a global perspective. Raised by a scientist father and an artist mother, his early life was surrounded by both analytical thinking as well as creative expression – a combination which continues to define his work and interests today.

Dan began tinkering with technology and programming at an early age, selling his first website at age 16. His early entry into the digital world laid the foundation for a colorful career in technology, design, and innovation.

In 2009, Dan co-founded the Zurich-based design and engineering agency Nerves, combining his technical skills with a strong sense of design and usability. Nerves has realized impactful digital experiences for a broad spectrum of clients, ranging from multinationals like UBS and Sika to local institutions such as Viseca and ETH.

Dan is also a passionate open-source advocate. For 25 years, he has authored different tools and libraries – some of which are widely used all over the world. His commitment to open collaboration and shared ecosystems reflects his belief that technology should be a collective resource that empowers, not restricts.
Bio

Kellian Adams Pletcher
Director of GLAM Innovation at FableVision Studios
Kellian Adams Pletcher is a Boston-based innovator in immersive learning and interactive experiences. As the founder of Green Door Labs, she has collaborated with institutions like the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Archives to create engaging educational games and experiences. Her projects include “Murder at the Met” and “Paint N’ Play,” blending storytelling with gameplay and technology to enhance learning.

Kellian serves as the Director of G.L.A.M. Innovation at FableVision Studios, focusing on integrating game-based learning into museums, libraries, and archives . Later this year, you can get Kellian’s book, Building Games in Museums, published by Bloomsbury.