Google Art Project VS. The World
Technology has conquered the film, music and journalism industry – and now ART too?
Google has come up with yet another new project; Google Art Project. This project is similar to the idea of Street View – it enables Internet users and art fanatics to visit 17 of the most acclaimed art galleries worldwide, without having to actually buy a ticket to go there. Once you are ‘inside’ the gallery of your choice, you can browse around the majority of the rooms and view some of the world’s most prestigious and precious masterpieces in impeccable detail. However, you do need high speed Internet in order to create the ‘real’ feel for it all.
The entire concept is useful for quick research, because it’s Shangri-La for art students on a budget, and less time consuming than travelling to an art gallery. But isn’t going to an art gallery meant to be inspiring? Surely, for art students, art critics, art lovers, etc. it should be an escapade?
For me, anyway, the Google Art Project is brilliant, but nowhere near as satisfying as seeing a physical painting in front of me. I would rather be walking through a gallery than clicking on a screen. I understand seeing Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in exquisite detail may be useful for, say, authenticating a painting, but that is obviously not what (most) people are after when they go to a gallery and observe a painting.
Obviously, not all of the paintings are photographed in extremely high resolution, apparently due to copyright reasons. The initial idea of the project is fantastic, but personally I still prefer the enthusiasm of going through the ritual of having to save money to go and visit new places in the world, and view the gems in person. It may be more expensive, but it gives you a cultural insider, memories, adventures, along with a lot of other enthralling experiences along the way!
Will this result in art galleries suffering too?
The thing is, the sections of the galleries that have been shown are the permanent ones, so in that way if one would want to go and see a temporary exhibition, you would have to travel there either way. A little plus, though, is that the carbon footprint may decrease by the tiniest percentage in one of these 17 cities. Apart from Amsterdam.
The final question to ask yourself; is Google devaluating the world’s most famous artists and works, or are they simply giving more people the opportunity to view well-known works within hands reach?
- Nina Hoogstraate
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