Durham College and ZenFri unveil Artefacta, a prototype app to explore museum collections and archives
Durham College and ZenFri have developed Artefacta, a prototype mobile app that lets visitors access curator‑approved archives, 3D media and multimedia content on their own devices, with accessibility features.
The collaboration pairs ZenFri—an arts-and-technology studio—with Durham’s Mixed Reality Capture (MRC) Studio. Artefacta enables users to scan objects to retrieve documents, short documentaries, photos, videos, 3D scans and site reconstructions curated by museum staff. Accessibility includes translation, text‑to‑speech and a question interface to guide deeper archival exploration. Processing and AI run on museum‑local computers so collections data remain in‑house. The prototype is ready for pilot testing in Canadian museums; MRC will continue supporting ZenFri toward commercialization.