Google Arts & Culture Is Trendy And Worth The Buzz
Google has a trendy new app that is on fire on social media thanks to a fun feature that tries to match your selfie with historical works of art. Google Arts & Culture is a gateway to a lot of the art data that Google has access to, including museums, street view, 360 degree videos, high resolution images, and collections. The selfie art match is what’s trending, but the entire app has its own value. For example, you can check out the Getty museum, tap on Van Gogh’s Irises, and zoom in enough to see the individual brushstrokes. The app also includes curated collections based on country of origin, color scheme, time period, and more to really enjoy all of the art that’s included.
With that said, the selfie mode is the stand out because it’s simply fun. Celebrities have joined thousands of everyday users to post their matches on social media. The matches are usually 40-60%, but it’s easy to see how the distinct facial features are matched between the photos. You can even get different results based on changing your expression, and it’s always fun to see the changes that the system produces. The only limitation is the number of pictures included to potentially match with, and hopefully Google expands their database soon. Just search on Twitter or Instagram with #GoogleArts to see all kinds of matches. It’s trendy enough that companies are using fabricated matches in their advertising campaigns.
Just search on Twitter or Instagram with #GoogleArts to see all kinds of matches.
The selfie feature is great to get people in the door of the app, and then they can hopefully explore all that it has to offer. At select museums, you can point your camera at a piece of art, and have the app provide the details, kind of like a guided tour. If you’re not sure what museums are compatible and nearby, the app has an explore tab to find museums near you, and you can continue to explore the art after you leave, or before you go. As you dive into all that’s included, the definite highlights are the street views and 360 degree videos to immerse yourself in a given museum without leaving the comfort of your device. There are over 1200 museums included, but the surprising amount is the number of curated collections. You can get lost going from one to the other, and it’s difficult not to find one that you may be interested in. Some of the extra features send you to other Google apps, and the service could always use more art and museums, but it’s a great starting point that will likely be updated going forward.
Google Arts & Culture brings you in with the selfie match feature, and keeps you in the digital art museum with the great content.
