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Dutch Museum launches ‘world’s first’ exhibition dedicated to the rise and influence of YouTube

The Dutch Institute of Sound and Vision and Museum in Hilversum, a city south east of Amsterdam has opened ‘Let’s Youtube’, an exhibition that allows visitors to discover the impact of YouTube on their lives and step into the shoes of YouTubers

Let’s Youtube is a highly interactive exhibition, designed and developed by Amsterdam creative agency NorthernLight, which enables visitors to experience YouTube both as a viewer and creator.

The exhibition is designed to be ‘one big adventure, based on gamification principles’ with a series of game stations where visitors can test their knowledge about the history, impact and effects of YouTube. The service was created by three former PayPal employees in 2005 and then sold in November 2006 to Google for $1.65 bn.

“The media landscape has changed tremendously in the last decade. You can watch video at any time in any place and content can be produced by anyone around the world,” said NorthernLight. “With YouTube being the biggest online video platform, and the second biggest social media platform in the world, it was very exciting to work with the Sound and Vision Museum to design this unique educational experience.”

Visitors to the exhibition are encouraged to take a ‘YouTube IQ test’, in order to unlock one of the YouTube Rooms – three high tech studios where they create their own video to upload on YouTube. While they are doing this they can get inspiration from the YouTube wall, showing the best of YouTube worldwide.

“Let’s YouTube takes you along the rapid development of YouTube and the emergence of the creator, the modern successor to the amateur filmmaker,” says the museum.

Sound and Vision has one of the largest audiovisual archives in Europe with the institution’s collection managing more than 70 per cent of the Dutch audiovisual heritage and the museum offers visitors a chance to explore the world of television, video and radio through its exhibitions.