From Digital Transformation to Audience Co-Creation: A Systematic Review of Digital Platforms in Contemporary Arts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61978/harmonia.v4i2.1707Keywords:
digital platforms, audience engagement, contemporary arts, digital transformation, museums, cultural heritage, systematic literature reviewAbstract
Digital transformation has reshaped the contemporary arts sector, prompting museums, galleries, and performing arts organizations to increasingly adopt digital platforms for audience engagement between 2020 and 2025. Using a PRISMA-based systematic literature review, this study synthesizes evidence on dominant digital platforms, engagement strategies, audience outcomes, and institutional challenges across artistic disciplines. Findings reveal that digital platforms have evolved into integrated ecosystems supporting participation, learning, cultural accessibility, and institutional sustainability. Storytelling, participatory communication, hybrid experiences, immersive exhibitions, and personalization consistently emerge as the most effective engagement strategies. However, persistent challenges including platform dependency, digital inequality, algorithmic bias, and AI-related ethical concerns remain unresolved. Successful digital transformation depends not only on technological innovation but also on organizational governance and audience-centered design. The review concludes that sustainable digital audience engagement requires a balanced integration of technological innovation, participatory cultural practice, and responsible institutional management, offering an integrated conceptual framework as a foundation for future research and policy development.
References
Adams, E. (2024). Audio Description for All? The Benefits and Concerns of Extending Access Provision to Sighted People. Curator the Museum Journal, 68(2), 387–403. https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12659
Ahuja, S., Chan, Y. E., & Krishnamurthy, R. (2023). Responsible innovation with digital platforms: Cases in India and Canada. Information Systems Journal, 33(1), 76–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12378
Ankyiah, F. (2023). Mobile Marketing in the Art Industry. Journal of Social Media Marketing, 2(2), 20–34. https://doi.org/10.33422/jsmm.v2i2.1124
Borda, A. (2023). Bearing Witness: A Commentary on Climate Action and Immersive Climate Change Exhibitions. https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/eva2023.3
Caelenberghe, M., Lochrie, M., Burrows, J., Das, R., Mills, J., Law, J. A., & Zubair, M. S. (2023). Empowering Young Voices: Prototyping Method for AR in Decolonisation Discussions. https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/bcshci2023.31
Cao, T. (2025). From Platform Governance to Institutional Practice: Experimentation, Misalignment, and Contingent Adoption of Google Arts &Amp; Culture. Platforms & Society, 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768624251349092
Choi, K., & Nam, Y. (2024). Do Presence and Authenticity in VR Experience Enhance Visitor Satisfaction and Museum Re‐Visitation Intentions? International Journal of Tourism Research, 26(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2737
Clemente, L., Iodice, G., Carignani, F., Greco, F., & Bifulco, F. (2024). Phygital Approach to Value Co-Creation in International Museums. Measuring Business Excellence, 28(2), 209–221. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe-09-2023-0133
Gao, Z., & Braud, T. (2023). VR-driven Museum Opportunities: Digitized Archives in the Age of the Metaverse. Artnodes, 0(32). https://doi.org/10.7238/artnodes.v0i32.402462
Gaweł, Ł. (2023). Museums Without Visitors? Crisis of the Polish Museums During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Revival Under the Digital Experience Offer. Sustainability, 15(15), 11844. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511844
Giannini, T., & Bowen, J. P. (2023). Museums and the Metaverse: New Signs of Computational Art and Life. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/438t2
Grant, K., & Minney, S. (2024). Collaboration, Flexibility, Skill-Sharing: The Future of Museum and Cultural Heritage Work in the Age of Digital Transformation in Australia. Humanities Research, XX(1), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.22459/hr.xx.01.2024.12
Hilden, I., & Zavadski, A. (2024). Museum Participation as Labor. Curator the Museum Journal, 67(3), 583–602. https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12617
Junqueira, F. M. (2025). The Talking Rocks in the Children’s Gallery. Curator the Museum Journal, 68(4), 648–655. https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12681
Kango, U., Gupta, A., Sharma, D., & Singh, A. (2025). Digital Platforms as Co-Producers of Space: A Lefebvrian Analysis of Tensions in Digital Platforms. Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, 56(1), 11–43. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715966.3715969
Khroul, V. (2020). Digitalization of Religion in Russia: Adjusting Preaching to New Formats, Channels and Platforms (pp. 187–204). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42855-6_11
Korobaničová, I., & Rončáková, R. (2024). Engaging New Audiences: Innovative Tools for Museum and Gallery Development in Slovakia. Verejná Správa a Spoločnosť, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.33542/vss2024-2-5
Massi, M., Rojas‐Méndez, J. I., & Pappacena, A. (2025). Reimagining Value Through Artification: A Conceptual and Theoretical Framework for Philanthropy and Marketing. Journal of Philanthropy, 30(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/nvsm.70016
Nicholson, B., Nielsen, P., & Saebo, J. I. (2021). Special issue: Digital platforms for development. Information Systems Journal, 31(6), 863–868. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12364
Pauli, T., Fielt, E., & Matzner, M. (2021). Digital Industrial Platforms. Business and Information Systems Engineering, 63(2), 181–190. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-020-00681-w
Peng, G. Y., & Ahmad-Zahari, Z. (2024). Exploring Contemporary Visualization of Traditional Chinese Arts: Relationship Between Calligraphy Elements and Visual Communication Effects. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 12(4), 985–1008. https://doi.org/10.18488/73.v12i4.3960
Polyviou, A. (2025). Digital Responsibility in Metaverse Platforms: A Policy Perspective. Information Systems Frontiers. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-025-10642-x
Volanakis, A., Seymour, C., & Fouseki, K. (2024). Assessing the Long-Covid Impact on Heritage Organisations. Heritage, 7(6), 3211–3247. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7060152
Yang, Y. (2025). The Interactive Nature of VR Art in the New Media Context. Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 27(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.4018/jcit.382565
Zhang, R., & Peng, F. (2023). Connection: Digitally Representing Australian Aboriginal Art Through the Immersive Virtual Museum Exhibition. Arts, 13(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13010009.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Harmonia : Journal of Music and Arts
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
