Original post by unknown on January 17, 2017
Culture is quite simply defined as the arts and other collections of human achievement viewed collectively. Culture is a human made collection of meaning whether that is art, music and other events that impact and influence the course of our humanity. It is almost a living organism that was born, has a past, lives in the present and is headed toward an unknown future as it is being nurtured and fed by ourselves. I could not imagine a world where we could not learn from and admire the important creative works of others.
Google released the Google Arts and Culture app last summer. This incredible app allows mobile users to contain the culture of the world in their pockets! No longer do you have to save your pennies for a once in a lifetime trip to the Museo Galileo, you can instantly immerse yourself in the history, art and culture with this click of a button! Google collaborated with over 1200 museums and organizations from over 70 countries to stitch together our global cultural history. This immersive cultural experience also features Virtual Reality tours using Google Cardboard, time sequenced interactions with the artist process and in depth information. Beyond art movements, there are also historical events, figures and places help to complete this cultural puzzle.
This app allows you to open up an immersive, informative and interactive cultural experience for your students. Helping our students get off the page and experience culture is well worth the download.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp4oa7MHg88
Tech Crunch Google Arts and Culture review
I find myself reflecting deeply here on the tension between the enthusiasm of the original poster and the doubt written in the comment by Gary Ma. I swing between these two extremes often; mobile technology does allow us incredible access to things we may never have experienced otherwise, but does experiencing them through a technologically platform actually count, or is it lacking something? However, I think there is a “why not both?” solution here. It is brilliant that we are able to see and experience things through mobile technology we may otherwise never been able to access, but there needs to be an acknowledgement that it is not the same experience as if it were a realis experience. To argue whether it is better/worse would be insane, but there should be sensitivity to the fact that it is different. Art is a classic example. I can look at a painting on a phone screen and see it and enjoy it, but when standing infront of it and having light bounce off the pigments and into my eyes and noticing the textures of the brush strokes I will understand it completely differently.
This beautiful video made by John Green and Kurzgesagt recently plays with this tension when looking at a replicated cave that acts as a museum, made to protect the original cave that was getting damaged by visitors. Enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbgnlkJPga4
I really like apps like that. Coincidentally, it was also my trip to Europe that sparked my interest in knowing more about arts. I totally agree with Jamie about “why not both”? The first time I was there, I felt I spent all the effort to get there, and there are artworks all over Europe. But I was ignorant to those artworks. I didn’t know the background story; I didn’t know how to enjoy them. But I do want to know more about them, I would like to know why this one in front of me, the one that I don’t understand, made its way into the museum. And I really don’t like to read all those tiny little introductions next to it. After that trip, I decided to learn more about stories of those famous artworks, so I downloaded an app called “daily art”. To me, using this app to know more about artworks is kind of like using a travelling app, which helps me decide where do I want to go. Nowadays, everybody sees at least one picture of the places they want to travel to, but they still want to go. I think that also applies to art. You see it on the app, you know what’s special about it and then you go to see it in person.
I have mixed feelings on this one. I appreciate having an app that can show me and provide information on the culture of other countries that I might not have the chance to experience and even go. However, the experience is not the same when one personally feels it and seeing/ reading it from an app. As Gary Ma put it “Can an app truly come close to recreating the same experience?”
I would have liked to have it available in my Art history class. Back in the days, we used to study famous pieces of art through books, the best was the Internet. However, should I had this app I believe I could have appreciated more the pieces of art.
Original comment by Gary Ma on 18 January 2017
This post reminded me of my experiences in Europe last summer. I had a lot of opportunities to visit different museums to see many pieces of original art. I am by no means a person that goes out of my way to enjoy art in particular, but some of the art pieces I saw, such as Michelangelo’s David for example, gave me a true sense of awe. The sheer size, along with the detail ingrained into marble was a sight to behold. The sculpture was placed at the end of a long hall in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, and could be seen from a distance. Coming up to the foot of the sculpture, one can appreciate the amount of time and attention to detail that Michelangelo had to go through to create that piece of work. David was the piece of art that I spent the most time admiring. On the other hand, the Mona Lisa at the Louvre was a massive disappointment. The painting was small, and paled in comparison to the other pieces of art placed in the same room. It was constantly hoarded by tourists that seem to be more interested in taking pictures of the painting as opposed viewing the piece of art work with their very own eyes. I saw the Mona Lisa, and promptly left. In both situations, I thought the tourists that surrounded the artwork, and the general experience of walking through the museum impacted my opinion of the artwork. In other words, I was almost “warmed up” to see the David, and the Mona Lisa as I ventured through the museum. Everyone looks up at the David as they approach, but everyone is always trying to see through crowd when it came to the Mona Lisa, and that impacts the viewing experience (as a very casual museum visitor) both positively and negatively. Although the Mona Lisa was disappointing, the experience of visiting the Louvre and finding my way to the Mona Lisa was still interesting enough that I would still encourage others to view it if they haven’t already. Although the VR tour for this app is interesting and I believe a very strong step forward that will allow those who cannot travel to view different pieces of artwork and to experience the culture, I think it will be very hard to emulate the environment around the museum, and the atmosphere around the painting, sculpture, or whatever the piece of artwork that made me enjoy both experiences, even the prize at the end was as rewarding as anticipated or not. If I had visited the David on the app, would I have felt the same impact that I felt when I was at the Galleria dell’Accademia? Would I still encourage others to view the Mona Lisa if I saw it through the app? If not, what is missing? Can an app truly come close to recreating the same experience?
Original comment by onctomek on 19 January 2017
I’m glad to see that an App like this has come forward, but like I mentioned as one of the reasons why I dislike mobile technologies is everything having no conformity – I think that this is great to have functionality with Google Cardboard, but then what is the use of the Cardboard app or the Expeditions app on their own? If this App would replace all the simpler, previous installments in Google’s endeavours, it would make sense to me. I am absolutely going to download and tinker around with this App, but there’s no telling when the next replacement will come and when support for this will end…