How the Louvre Abu Dhabi created an ingenious way to reach new audiences
Project: creating ‘The Highway Gallery’ heritage trail
The Purpose
As a new museum in the city with relatively limited domestic audiences, the Louvre Abu Dhabi needed to find new ways to bring art to the people and increase the museum’s footfall.
The Challenge
In 2017, the new Louvre Abu Dhabi opened. After attracting international media coverage in the years after the launch, there was an understandable drop in audience, so the museum wanted to reach the local community.
The Solution
To enhance the museum’s visibility within local communities and encourage residents to visit the museum, the Highway Gallery initiative was implemented. This project involved reproducing some of the museum’s most renowned masterpieces on giant billboards and placing them alongside one of the busiest motorways.
The exhibition along the roadside featured works such as Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘La Belle Ferronnière’ and Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Self-Portrait’. These billboards spanned over 100 kilometres of the E11 Sheikh Zayed Road, with an average of 12,000 cars passing daily.
This project was a collaboration with Abu Dhabi Media, which granted access to its FM transmitter. This allowed Louvre Abu Dhabi to take control of the radio frequencies of Emarat FM, Radio 1 and Classic FM. As vehicles passed the artworks, the FM devices synchronised and broadcasted the backstory of each artwork on the car radios.
The Impact
This project allowed the Louvre Abu Dhabi to engage with audiences and potential visitors by uniquely bringing the museum experience into people’s journeys and cars. The Highway Gallery was recognised for its impact and innovation, winning industry awards such as Gold in the Media Innovation category at the prestigious Effie Awards. Tracking of social media usage and polling showed a marked increase in brand awareness, and positive attitudes towards the museum among residents. Visitor numbers started to exceed their monthly targets. These results were repeated when the project ran again in 2019.
The launch of the Highway Gallery marked a new era for museums in Abu Dhabi. Just four months after the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, it paved the way for direct reach to the city’s commuters and visitors. It succeeded in bringing art to new audiences by taking it out of museum display cases.
The project helped to deliver on the city’s ambitions to enhance appreciation of art among the community and boost cultural tourism at the same time.
Source: World Cities Culture Report 2022
