Within the framework of the project “Kultura. Dumat!” from MСU, senior students from several schools of the capital took part in the development of a Telegram-bot “Bot-Behemoth” — an interactive guide to Mikhail Bulgakov’s legendary “Bad Apartment”. The project premiered at the annual Bulgakov-fest, and now any visitor to the museum can immerse himself in the atmosphere of a Moscow communal flat of the early 20th century by scanning a QR code at the entrance.
The children created several routes from the virtual ‘residents’ of the flat. Each character – be it a pie seller, a Komsomol student or Afanasyich the cat – leads its own storyline, revealing secrets and facts from the life of Mikhail Bulgakov and his era.
“Our project was aimed at getting young people not just to visit the museum, but to find something new for themselves in it”, said Natalia Zhabina, specialist at MCU. “We talked to them about life in communal neighbourhoods, how different it is from modern life. This allowed them to look at history through the prism of personal experience.”
“Bot-Behemoth” not only tells about the life of Soviet communal houses, but also offers interactive tasks: to answer tricky questions from the characters, listen to archive recordings of artists’ performances on the radio, find out why the house was called “Petropavlovka”, and test your knowledge of celebrities of that time.
More than 300 people have used it since the launch of Bot. The project has become an example of how modern technology and the initiative of young people can enrich the cultural space of the capital.
The Mikhail Bulgakov Museum and MCU plan to continue their co-operation, developing the project and adding new interactive elements. Read about how bots are implemented in foreign museums in the source.
Photo: Department of Education and Science of the City of Moscow