Helping visitors explore a label-light gallery experience

As Kansas’s destination for modern and contemporary art, the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University connects audiences with artists and artworks that reflect the world today. Its collection includes more than 7,400 objects, alongside the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection, a renowned public art collection spread across the WSU campus.

As a museum with rich, varied holdings, the Ulrich faced a compelling opportunity: how could it help visitors explore a collection of this scale while leaving space for their own connections, pairings and interpretations to emerge?

One solution is Smartify’s interactive maps, which offer visitors a flexible way to explore its galleries and vast print collection.

Supporting Bare It All

The new maps support Bare It All, an ambitious exhibition that gives visitors a rare opportunity to engage with the full spectrum of the museum's holdings, bringing together objects across different periods, media and regions. With the museum displaying as many objects as the space permits at one time, the exhibition highlights the depth of Ulrich's collection.

Rich interpretation, without more labels

For an exhibition of this scale, traditional wall labels are not always the right fit. By displaying so much of the collection at once, Bare It All invites visitors to form their own unique connections, pairings, and interpretations rather than follow a controlled curatorial route.

Smartify’s interactive maps support that sense of discovery and offer a clear digital alternative. Offering context when it’s wanted without interrupting the experience of looking. Visitors can tap the map, explore the gallery by room and access information about the works around them on their own phones. This allows the Ulrich to keep the space visual, while still giving audiences access to object and artist details.

Each section becomes a digital entry point into the collection, helping audiences navigate a dense and wide-ranging display with confidence. Students, faculty, researchers, local audiences and first-time visitors may all arrive with different levels of knowledge and different reasons for engaging. Some may want a quick overview while others require a deeper dive into particular works or themes.

A smarter way to manage changing displays

Behind the scenes, Smartify gives the Ulrich team a flexible way to manage interpretation as displays change. Content can be updated through the Smartify dashboard, allowing the museum to adjust objects, sections and related stories without producing new printed materials each time.

This is useful for collections where works rotate or exhibitions evolve. Smartify gives museum teams more control over how interpretation is presented, while helping ensure visitors always have access to up-to-date content.

The Ulrich Museum of Art’s use of interactive maps shows how digital tools can support thoughtful, visitor-centred interpretation without competing with the artworks themselves. For visitors, the result is simple: tap the map, choose a section and uncover the stories behind the art.

The launch reflects a growing shift across museums with large and varied collections: using digital guides to expand access and support ambitious displays without overcrowding the physical space.