The Dalí Museum: From Surrealism to DALL·E

In this Partner Piece, we speak to Beth Harrison, Digital Experiences Director at The Dalí Museum in Florida. She oversees an array of digital offerings and exhibits at the institution, and implemented the Bloomberg Connects guide earlier this year.

Prior to becoming a Bloomberg Connects Cultural Partner in May, The Dalí was using a native app that combined audio tours with Augmented Reality for eight masterworks in their collection. Technological innovation is one of the museum’s cornerstones, bringing to life their unparalleled collection of works by Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) for new generations of visitors. This is in keeping with the spirit of the artist: “Dalí was very forward-thinking when it came to technology,” explains Beth. “He was also an inventor and a lover of science. It’s been great for us to really embrace innovation and technology as a tool to tell different stories.”

The Dalí was recently named one of the top twelve most innovative museums in recognition of their impressive array of tech and digital offerings. These include the award-winning Dreams of Dalí, which allows you to experience his surreal world through Virtual Reality, as well as the onsite multisensory Dalí Alive 360° in The Dalí Dome, in which you can immerse yourself in his life and career. The museum has also incorporated the latest in Artificial Intelligence to bring visitors closer to the artist. In Ask Dalí, you can use a replica of his famous Lobster Phone to pose a question, with responses generated by several machine learning models that were trained on Dalí’s writings and archival audio. 

In 2022, the museum introduced the Dream Tapestry, which allows visitors to create digital artworks from their dreams using Open AI’s text-to-image generator DALL·E. This technology was named after the pioneering artist, emphasising his continuing influence on new innovations. The dreamworks created by visitors were stitched together into a collaborative digital tapestry, and displayed on a large video wall. The museum also hosts an Innovation Lab programme, “where we teach people how to think more creatively and become more innovative through the lens of Dalí’s philosophy”. 

The Dalí’s decision to join Bloomberg Connects was motivated in part by a recognition of shared values. “We were attracted by a similar mission to make art accessible to all,” says Beth. “I felt it was a good partnership based on what I know about Bloomberg Philanthropies and their approach to providing access to the arts.” This idea of synchronicity and aligned interests is also present within the app itself: “The nature of having other guides on the app, tapping into an audience of art enthusiasts – which is our core demographic – made sense to us as well.” While Beth acknowledges that St. Petersburg, Florida can sometimes feel removed from the art epicentres of New York or London, technology allows The Dalí to extend its reach beyond its geography to connect with visitors, art enthusiasts and fellow institutions around the world.

The benefit of connecting with a like-minded community as part of the Bloomberg Connects onboarding process was something Beth particularly commended. “It was a great experience going through the 14-week orientation with our cohort,” she says. “Our team was very engaged and impressed.” While individual institutions can feel isolated, this community of peers offers the opportunity for knowledge sharing, as many museums are tasked with meeting similar visitor needs or technical challenges. “I had a call with someone at MoMA recently, who was introduced to me through Bloomberg Connects,” Beth recalls. “He showed me how they’re encouraging usage of the app on the labels for their paintings, and I think that’s really smart.” She highlighted the important role that Bloomberg Connects could fulfil as “the epicentre of best practices in the museum world, by driving that sense of community. I would love to see more webinars, such as on the state of the museum interpretation and usage of  labels!”

Beth and her team have approached the transition to Bloomberg Connects in two phases, beginning by migrating their existing audio guide content to the new platform. This includes a variety of tour options: permanent collection and temporary exhibition ones aimed at a general audience, one for families voiced by Dalí’s iconic moustache, one focused on architecture, and one presented by the museum’s teen docents. This means that visitors are offered a variety of options for engaging with the collection, tailored to their ages and interests. “Being able to bring your kids to the museum, making that accessible, is a big component for us,” says Beth. “We have a lot of programming aimed towards kids and families, so there are probably going to be other ways we can utilise the guide for that. Again, what a great webinar: kids and how they navigate museums, how they use the guide.” 

In the second phase, they are integrating content on their temporary exhibitions and adding a digital experiences guide, as well as thinking holistically about their approaches to interpretation. “When you look at the museum industry, you need to evolve with the behaviour of your visitors,” Beth says. “We’ve always approached this as three types: there are those who want human interaction, those who want to be on a guided tour that tells the story, and those who want to discover things on their own. And we see that shifting in relation to the different demographics and generations. So we have to figure out how we are going to evolve with this as well.”

Looking ahead to the future, The Dalí will be building a 50,000 square foot extension that will be focused on digital experiences, education and community. “We’ll also be doing more immersive experiences,” Beth says, “possibly with other artists who are focused on digital art.” It’s also worth noting that the dynamic Dream Tapestry is ever-evolving as visitors add their own contributions. Additionally, “we have the flexibility to change artistic styles based on our current exhibitions. Currently, the results look like a surrealist painting, but when The Subversive Eye opens in November, you’ll generate your dream image and it’ll be a surrealist photograph.”

Visit The Dalí Museum on Bloomberg Connects!