Empathic Cultural Heritage Research
redefines how people experience cultural heritage by fostering empathy, co-creation, and inclusion
THE PROJECT
META-MUSEUM is a Horizon Europe-funded research project (Grant No. 101132488, HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-01) developing the TransforMEANS Theory – a neuroscience-based framework for empathic cultural mediation. Coordinated by Politecnico di Torino, the project brings together 11 partner institutions across 10 countries and 3 pilot museums to explore how citizens can understand Cultural Heritage’s transformative nature through active participation, emotional involvement, and co-creation.
We engage people in a pervasive, unconventional, and emotional way, developing communication strategies that move audiences – including those who rarely step into cultural venues – and involve them on a personal level.
The project empowers individuals to engage with Cultural Heritage as a dynamic entity, one that evolves continuously and carries values and meanings that society reinterprets over time: this is the transformative nature of cultural heritage for META-MUSEUM.
Understanding Cultural Heritage as something constantly changing can help citizens to see it not as a static legacy of the past, but as a living reflection of contemporary life.
Through an innovative methodology and a transdisciplinary approach, META-MUSEUM transcends the traditional vision of cultural experiences.
OUR EXPERTISE
META-MUSEUM bridges disciplines such as museography, psychology, social sciences, neurosciences, digital humanities, and computer science.
The project develops evidence-based results and theoretical frameworks, including the TransforMEANS theory, conducts pilot studies across museums, hospitals, and public spaces.
By introducing digital and physical solutions, we enhance cultural experiences through co-creation and storytelling.
We explore how personal reflection and interpretation during cultural encounters can empower citizens to face current and future societal transformations with greater confidence, fostering resilience, empathy, and well-being, using tools like EEG, GSR, eye-tracking, and the “attaCHbox” app to measure empathy, confidence, and resilience with scientific rigor.
RESEARCH INITIATIVES
Behind every empathic encounter we design lies rigorous, ongoing research. Our Research Initiatives bring the project to life beyond the page.
This is a living body of work, and it keeps growing as the project unfolds.
Publications
Peer-reviewed papers and open-access findings Explore →
Educational modules
Built on the TransforMEANS Theory Explore →
Co-creation
Experiments where museum visitors become active stakeholders in history Explore →
Pilots
Museums, hospitals, hybrid environmentsExplore →
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