IS2 inside museums: the case of the "Adria" rattle’s interactive installation

Many museums are increasingly employing interactive installations, such as virtual reality experiences and digital reconstructions, to enhance the presentation of their collections, particularly in relation to ancient musical instruments. However, these digital experiences often do not convey the physicality and tangible qualities of the instruments themselves. In addition, there is a growing demand among institutions for solutions that allow visitors to engage with the acoustic dimensions of these artifacts in a more immersive and accessible manner, including the ability to experience sounds from instruments held in other museums.The project centered on the rattle preserved at the Adria National Archaeological Museum was developed in response to these needs. It aimed to create an interactive installation within the museum, featuring an electronic replica of an Etruscan rattle dated to the third to fourth centuries BC. This replica was constructed using a microcontroller-based system housed within a 3D-printed shell, which was modeled from a scan of the original artifact. The device is capable of reproducing sampled sounds of the original instrument and is paired with an interactive touchscreen display that offers contextual information and a digital twin of the artifact. The replica communicates wirelessly with the display through Wi-Fi and has access to an online database of audio samples recorded from other musical instruments housed in museums across the region.Although not intended as a perfect visual reproduction, the outer shell was enhanced with tactile reliefs that replicate the original decorative motifs and equipped with haptic feedback features to ensure accessibility for visitors with visual or auditory impairments.