Google Art Project – The Digital Age and the Arts
Introduction:
Earlier this month, Google opened up seventeen galleries to the World Wide Web in a project called Google Art Project. The project has created a digital platform to observe artwork from across the globe, artwork from galleries such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, and Tate Britain, London. Nicholas Serota, Director at the Tate, sees that the project ‘gives us a taste of the digital future for museums’. Indeed, Google want to use this digital platform to make art more readily available and to promote the galleries involved. However, is it that simple? And has Google achieved their targets?
What it is?
Using the street view technology, Google were able to capture 1062 pictures, enabling cyber viewers to walk round each of the different galleries at their own pace and route. This route can be customized by the viewer to select different pieces of art from around the world for their viewing pleasure. Not only this, each gallery selected one famous piece of art to be put under the (‘gigapixel photo capturing technology’) microscope. This phenomenal piece of technology allows viewers to observe the detail on paintings like Van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Rembrandt’s Night Watch. This detail cannot be seen by the naked eye. Ultimately, this entirely self-funded project aims to give cyber viewers better-than-reality experiences of these artifacts and open up art to a wide audience.
Aims of the Project
Google’s main aim with the project is to democratize art. With this on offer to anyone in the world that has internet access, it is no surprise that there has been mass excitement about the prospects and future of Google Art Project and what it can offer to new audiences. For instance, Nelson Mettos, Vice-President of Engineering at Google, hopes that the project will ‘inspire ever more people, wherever they live, to access and explore art’. In addition to this, Amit Sood, who headed up the project hopes that it will inspire people ‘to one day visit the real thing’. Since the cyber-viewer can tour round various rooms in each gallery, observing rather grainy pictures; this hope from Google may not be too far-fetched.
Benefits
The new digital platform has a clear educational benefit. Art teachers across the country must be excited by the prospect of having the technology in their grasp to highlight the intricate details of seventeen of the world’s masterpieces to their pupils. They can do this from the comfort of their own classrooms, rather than dragging fifty kids on an intrepid coach journey to-and-from central London, or further afield even. Either way, the ability to focus on the precise techniques used by some of the world’s greatest artists throughout history must be a significant development to art on an educational level. Both Serota and Mettos see the Google Art Project as a ‘step forward’ in the ability to share art with so many across the world.
Concerns
The Google Art Project’s aim to ‘democratize’ art is a clear concern. The project itself is limited to seventeen galleries across the United States and Europe and there is no Prado in Madrid, the Vatican in Rome, or even the Meguro in Tokyo. The lack of range is exemplified all the more in the seventeen ‘gigapixel’ pieces. There are two from Van Gogh, two from Rembrandt, two from Hans Holbein; but none of Picasso, Da Vinci, or Renoir. This is all the more surprising, considering the Museo Reina Sofia opted for The Bottle of Anís del Mono by Juan Gris rather than the more popular Guernica by Picasso. All this points to a not particularly democratic selection process of these paintings and galleries. In defence, Google’s Mattos says ‘this is just the first step; there will be many improvements over the years’ justifying the limitations behind the project. Google cannot hide behind the fact that the selection process of these pieces has not been democratic; it has been a team hand-picking what they see fit for the viewing public. This rather shakes the foundational principles of the Google Art Project.
This lack of democracy in the selection process can be rectified as Google build over time the repertoire of galleries and pieces of art that can be accessed. What has to be questioned is their use of the project to advertise their name more than the galleries themselves. One clear example comes to mind. In a time when arts organisations are facing severe cuts in funding from their respective governments and a reduction in philanthropic giving, the forty billion dollar company of Google did not donate any funds towards the collaborating galleries. Each gallery has provided its collections, expertise and guidance throughout the project yet Google were reluctant to reward their hard work. It is disappointing to see such a major corporation not setting an example of supporting the arts in more ways than just on a digital platform. If anything, the Google Art Project is more of an advert for the global brand rather than an attempt to democratize art.
The Future
The Google Art Project seems to be a brilliant start at presenting art online. Indeed, John Stack, head of tate.org.uk, points out that ‘the next level of museum experience is online’; this is all the more apparent through the project. However, there has to be more financial collaboration between these digital platforms, such as Google Art Project, and other institutions for it to be beneficial and rewarding for the arts and Google as a whole. Rather than a project advertising Google’s technical expertise in online digital media, Google and other companies alike should aim to support the arts in a key period of transition and with a range of exciting possibilities to be explored online and elsewhere.
Posted 15 Feb 2011 by Jack Brooks
Earlier this month, Google opened up seventeen galleries to the World Wide Web in a project called Google Art Project. The project has created a digital platform to observe artwork from across the globe, artwork from galleries such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, and Tate Britain, London. Nicholas Serota, Director at the Tate, sees that the project ‘gives us a taste of the digital future for museums’. Indeed, Google want to use this digital platform to make art more readily available and to promote the galleries involved. However, is it that simple? And has Google achieved their targets?
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