Google has launched Google Arts and Culture, an app that allows the user to take virtual reality tours of some of the world’s most prominent buildings, street art scenes and ancient temples.
The app provides access to art, history and world wonders from more than a thousand museums across 70 countries.
To find out more information about a certain art piece or artifact the user can zoom in, or the search tools can be used to explore artworks by themes such as colour, historical events or artistic mediums.
The Google Arts and Culture app and website has been designed as the public-facing front door to the Google Cultural Institute and Art Project, which were established in 2011 and 2010 respectively.
The Google Arts and Culture app.
Image: Google
When paired with a virtual reality viewer like Google Cardboard, the app allows the user to take
virtual tours, including sites such as the ancient Greek temple of Zeus. Without a virtual reality viewer the tours can still be experienced in 2D.
Australians will be among the first in the world to try out Google Arts and Culture’s newest feature, the Art Recognizer. The Recognizer can be used in Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales, as well as the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Using the app, users can flick through detailed profiles of noteable architects and their work, including Denmark’s Jørn Utzon, whose noteable work includes the Sydney Opera House, Finland’s Alvar Aalto and Turkey’s Sedad Hakki Eldem.
Users can take street art tours in cities such as New York, where the Water Tank Project is raising awareness for the global water crisis and transforming the skyline by decorating raised water tanks; or they can step inside the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
The app can also be used to navigate real-life gallery visits. Click “visit” on a museum’s page to find out information regarding opening times and current exhibits.
