Research into the opportunities offered by electronic media as regards finding and acquiring knowledge, together with the development of new teaching and learning methods for the field of art and culture is the focus of the work being carried out by the Media Arts & Research Studies (MARS) research group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Media Communication. This paper illustrates the requirements on electronic and digital media concepts in the context of e-learning, using the very latest developments and experience in this sector as examples. In the broadest sense, the aim is to visualise information and create networked ‘knowledge spaces’ which are accessible to users as new forms of teaching and learning through play. Experimental methods, tools and interfaces that support communication between the digital and physical spaces and investigate new forms of knowledge retrieval are being developed and tested.