In this Master’s thesis project, an immersive exhibit was built to help educate the general public about sustainable fashion. At the same time, the use of visitors’ bodies as a canvas for the exhibit content was explored, and whether on-body projections can give museums an additional technique to make an emotional impact on museum visitors.

An on-body projection installation for sustainable fashion was developed in Unity, which is now located in a new exhibition ‘One Planet NOW!’ in Museon, a museum in the Hague. Visitors can discover sustainable clothes made from various unconventional materials, such as bamboo, eucalyptus, hemp, recycled bottles, biological wool, and even coffee grind. The work produced design lessons that can support future researchers aiming to utilize on-body projections in museum exhibits.

In interviews with visitors, indications were found that on-body projections can give visitors a deeper sense of emotional involvement with the exhibit content. Visitors reported that they felt a sense of personal involvement, and felt increased empathy, when the exhibit content was projected onto their bodies. Therefore, it could be a very promising technique for awareness-raising topics in particular, which require visitors to open up their feelings to the challenges in the world.