MoMu Hackathon 2024: A Weekend of Fashion, Technology, and Innovation

MoMu Antwerp recently hosted its first-ever hackathon, an ambitious event themed “A Weekend at the Museum: Make the Study Collection Come to Life, Using Technology.” The collaboration with Masjien brought together over 30 talented individuals from the realms of fashion and technology. Participants came from across Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, and the UK, embodying the cross-border creativity essential for groundbreaking innovation.

Held on the weekend of November 23rd-24th in the MoMu Library, the hackathon provided a unique space for experts, students, and enthusiasts to develop creative solutions. Four multidisciplinary teams were formed, comprising designers, developers, curators, data scientists, storytellers, and more, with the shared goal of crafting digital prototypes that brought MoMu’s study collection to life. Throughout the weekend, coaches and collaborators from MoMu, Masjien, Bakermat, MaxLab, Howest, and d_archive were on hand to support and inspire participants.

“MoMu has a clear mission to cultivate curiosity about fashion and make it more accessible to all. The concepts that emerged from the hackathon embody exactly that vision,” said Dieter Suls, Coordinator at the Dries Van Noten Study Center. Participants were given access to an impressive range of resources, including digital patterns, 3D versions, and textiles from the museum's extensive collection of approximately 2,000 historical, contemporary, and regional fashion pieces.

The concepts developed at MoMu Hackathon 2024 reflect an exciting blend of storytelling, heritage, and technological experimentation:

• "Tormented Love" is an evocative 3D animation that tells the love story between garments from different historical periods, brought to life with cutting-edge tools like Blender, Clo3D, and Cinema4D. The resulting narrative is visually poetic, capturing the transformation and aesthetic interplay between these garments.

• "Rags to Riches" revolutionizes museum visits by using QR codes to connect visitors with multilingual chatbots, allowing them to “chat” with garments. Utilizing open-source LLAMA and RAG technology, the project bridges language gaps while creating a personalized, interactive experience with museum collections.

• "Guardians of Archives" merges digital and physical elements to foster a dynamic community dedicated to cultural heritage. The project features a VR journey, interactive mask creation, and 3D-printed pins, alongside a website showcasing a striking 3D visualization of a fencing costume from the MoMu library. The initiative draws on a wide range of tools, from CLO 3D and Adobe Substance to XR platforms and AI technologies.

• "The Quintessential Victorian" reimagines late Victorian fashion by analyzing a dress from MoMu, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and The Met. The project creates an “average garment” representing Victorian design, presented as an open-source digital template to engage and inspire audiences in exploring the essence of Victorian fashion through AI and 3D modeling.

Reflecting on the event, Ann Claes, co-organizer and Techno-optimist at Masjien, highlighted the incredible potential of technology for creativity: “The technology stack available today is pushing endless creativity and efficiency, and this was demonstrated through the amazing outcomes in just two days.” The event was not just a convergence of skills but also a demonstration of the powerful synergy that emerges when diverse talents and technologies come together to tackle creative challenges.

The MoMu Hackathon 2024 showcased what can be achieved when art, fashion, and technology intersect. It was a weekend full of energy, collaboration, and, of course, a few Belgian beers — a celebration of creativity and innovation in Antwerp, the city of avant-garde.

With projects like these, the possibilities for museum experiences, digital fashion, and cultural preservation are truly limitless. We look forward to seeing more from MoMu, Masjien, and their partners as they continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the creative landscape.

Contact:

Dieter Suls dieter.suls@momu.be

Ann Claes ann@masjien.be 0032 479 68 99 51

Partners:

​BAKERMAT - https://www.bakermat.net/

​d_archive - https://darchive.io/

Digital Fashion Archive - https://www.digitalfashionarchive.com/

Howest - Cyber 3 Lab - https://www.cyber3lab.be/

​Masjien - https://masjien.be/

MaxLab - AP Hogeschool - https://ap-arts.be/onderzoeksgroep/maxlab

All photos courtesy of MoMu.