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The Cleveland Museum of Art has won a 2002 MUSE Award of the American Association of Museums for its original and innovative interactive exhibit, 'Exploring Picasso's La Vie'.

Cognitive Applications and the New Media department at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) developed the interactive for 'Picasso: The Artist's Studio', an exhibition devoted to the theme of the artist's studio in the work of Pablo Picasso. The exhibition was open to the public from October 2001 to January 2002.

The interactive presents the findings from many years of research undertaken by CMA curators and conservators, explains the main scientific techniques used by conservators and researchers, and allows visitors to explore the painting in depth using infrared, x-ray and magnification tools.

A unique feature of the interactive is the installation which consists of a 50 inch (125 cm) plasma screen mounted vertically on the wall. All the interaction occurs within the boundary of the painting itself creating an experience of direct interaction with the work of art.

Dr. Holly Witchey, Manager of New Media at the Cleveland Museum of Art, explains "Our goal was to create an interactive which would involve a number of visitors in a gallery. We wanted something more than a kiosk in a corner. "Exploring Picasso's La Vie" not only spurred visitors to go back to the beginning of the exhibition and look again at the actual work of art, it proved to be a successful multi-generational and multi-modal learning experience. "