The Discovery Museum Welcomes Expats from Meta

With the proliferation of digital media in everyday life, digital technology and virtual reality have become keywords in modern technology. Interacting with digitized information is fast, cheap, and flexible. And simulated realities, such as the Daughters of Chibok documentary shown at the Discovery Museum, allow users to tour non-physical places and “experience” past events as if they were happening live. With traditional museums, visitors view artifacts and artworks that passively tell the story of a people’s cultural history. Older generations are acquainted with this practice, but younger visitors crave a more stimulating experience, one that is possible only with digital technologies.

And the Discovery Museum, the first digital museum in Nigeria, continues to dazzle its visitors with the sheer creativity it exudes and the immersive experience it provides. Recently the Discovery Museum had expatriates from Meta (formerly Facebook) visit the space, and Mosope Olaosebikan, the brain behind this polestar of creativity and innovation, was present at the museum to personally take these visitors on a guided tour around the facility, explaining each section of the museum and answering tourists’ questions while they gaped at its beautiful exhibits and the sheer brilliance of its carefully curated gallery.

“The first thing that I definitely have felt is just the creativity that lives in Nigeria,” said Anna Lee, marketing manager at Meta. “I have just been so inspired . . . . Everyone that has worked on pulling this space together is just so passionate about the people, their community, and bringing change. And I get that spirit a lot as well from every person I have met on this trip. There’s just this desire to want to do more.”

In answering questions about the Boko Haram insurgency, Mosope showed visitors around the Conflict Resolution Room at the Discovery Museum, which documents, in impressive detail, the various conflicts the country has experienced in its journey toward nation-building. The idea is to allow visitors, especially young Nigerians, some of them schoolchildren, who are outside of these conflicts zones (in time and space) and somewhat far removed from its consequences, to have a glimpse into its reality and to learn from past leaders’ mistakes. And also to educate foreign visitors, such as Anna, about the country’s challenging past and how far it has come from there.

After the tour, the visitors had the chance to make their own art pieces, with Tilt Brush, the newest innovation in the world of art and painting, and they were beyond excited about the experience.

“You know, I travel quite a lot, Anna said, “and that’s something I’m always reminded, [that] at the end of the day we’re all people, and that everyone has ideas, and you know, everyone should have the chance to create those ideas or imagine and [do] all those things that make living life fun.”

“We all have our struggles,” she continues, “and that informs our creativity and the ideas that we have. We also have the things that we celebrate, and that, too, is reflected in the art that we create.”

In our continued resolve to monitor innovation, especially in technology, and to elevate local talents, the Discovery Museum offers NFT artists a chance to display their work. Since it’s not yet legal to buy and sell NFTs in Nigeria, the NFT artworks we display carry QR codes that visitors can scan to access the artists’ works on the platforms where those works can be legally bought or sold.

We continue to passionately and proudly project Nigeria’s rich cultural history to the world, and everyone who has experienced this historical dive, enhanced by cutting-edge digital technology, has been nothing short of amazed.

And Fiona Lenahan, international marketing brand strategies at Meta, was no exception, as she declares: “Beautiful people [with] an appetite to make things happen and to experiment. . . . Beautiful culture.”

The Discovery Museum, taking advantage of the benefits of technology, offers visitors far more intriguing possibilities when they visit. Tourists see, feel, and even “experience” our cultural history.