Yes, you CAN go see some art
Despite the health crisis, you can still visit the best museums in the world. Using technology, a great ally of confinement, it’s possible to visit them basically without constraint and for free. Virtual tours at least simulate the experience of being in a museum when you get tired of Joe Exotic and his cast of mouth-half-full (I’m an optimist) characters.
Virtual Museums
The particularity of these spaces is that they only exist virtually because it’s the best way to interact with the artworks. We are talking about digital art museums. Unlike traditional museums, they normally online so their schedule was not affected by the quarantine. This means that they are the only institutions with new exhibitions. It is an option that has been present for a long time; however, today they are the best alternative to discover new artistic expressions.
Espacio Byte, created in 2013 in Argentina, houses various expressions of digital art such as video games, generative art, glitch art, software art, animation, net art, cyberliterature, etc. It brings together local and international artists. Its aim is to create new participatory experiences and explore the expressive possibilities of cyberspace. Like any museum, it offers exhibitions (both individual and collective) but the user can access all the proposals regardless of their opening date. It’s available in both Spanish and English.
Harddiskmuseum is the only museum in the world contained in a hard disk. It is an initiative carried out by the multimedia artist and director of ESAT LAB Solimán López in 2015. Its function is to house as many digital works as possible and to examine new artistic languages. Although the museum has travelled to many countries, it has recently inaugurated "A-Live Show on Line", only available on its website, which incorporates new artists and new concepts. In addition, it offers the possibility of accessing a hundred artists who are part of the museum's collection.
Google Art and Culture
Contemplating The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum or La Gioconda in the Louvre Museum without visitors busy taking photos is possible thanks to this Google tool. This project brings together more than 500 museums and galleries around the world in one place. Through the technology of Street View, it is possible to make immersive tours in 360° and high definition. Some institutions also provide zoom to any of their works along with an explanatory text, even those that are not on display. Although it can be accessed from the computer, the best way is through the Google Art and Culture app.
One of the most popular is the Frida Kahlo Museum, which has 800 pieces by the artist and the possibility of visiting the Casa Azul that she shared with Diego Rivera. From the other side of the globe, in Saint Petersburg, the Hermitage Museum resents six buildings of antiquities and is the largest in Russia. Other must-see sights include the historic Archaeological Museum in Athens, the National Palace Museum in Taiwan and the stunning National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of South Korea. Not forgetting institutions like The Getty Museum, The Met, The Prado Museum, The National Gallery, MoMa, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Bilbao, National Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario.
Probably the most valuable part of this tool is the exploration of inaccessible sites such as Chauvet and Lascaux Cave, located in France. Both are significant samples of the first works of art of humanity. On the other side, there is also room for urban art lovers. Google Art & Culture has the "Street Art" category which includes an archive of photographs and stories of its creators. But if this option is not enough, the graffitimundo.com website offers real and virtual tours of the streets.
Google Art & Culture https://artsandculture.google.com/
Google Art & Culture/ Category “Street Art” https://artsandculture.google.com/project/street-art
CAM The Covid Art Museum
Three advertisers in Barcelona decided to carry out the first virtual museum on Instagram inspired by the COVID- 19. Since the beginning of the isolation, many creative minds were present in social media with their works reflecting on the pandemic. The creators decided to collect these productions that include paintings, videos, collages, memes, etc., and publish them on the most popular social network of the moment. As an incentive, a call was also made together with the Ibero-American platform “ArteInformado”. The requirement is that the works have been produced during the confinement and that they portray the current situation.
In the Instagram account one can find different images based on the impact of the pandemic on our lives. For example, portraits of new habits, that arose from social isolation, or the desolate streets of big cities. Some artists have even played with art references such as the parody of Adam's Creation by Da Vinci in which the hands wear a glove and a facemask. Hand sanitizers, masks or rolls of toilet paper are symbols of a new reality and why not of a new aesthetic.
The aim of this space is to divulge the ingenuity of unknown people but above all, to keep the union and the spirit no matter the geographical location. Some works are pessimistic, others reflective or humorous but messages of solidarity and awareness predominate. The response has been very positive as they receive between 20 and 50 works per day, so artists and galleries have volunteered to be curators of the profile. However, its founders foresee that production will be reduced so the museum will function as a record of this event and, of course, of the origin of CovidArt.
This is an interesting proposal to reflect on the concept of virtual museums. In a situation where museums around the world have closed abruptly, technology offers different possibilities not only to spread culture but also to explore new narratives. Virtual tours bring us closer to the collections of the most important museums, but what about the smaller spaces or the new works that are being created? Perhaps this is a question to take into account when evaluating the future of art and the institutions.
To participate in this initiative, the works can be sent to the Instagram account @CovidArtMuseum by direct message, use the hashtag #covidartmuseum or to the mail covidartmuseum@gmail.com. In addition, at the end of the quarantine, curator Natalia Alonso Arduengo will select 10 works to be presented, along with a critical text, in a new online exhibition called "LA ARTEINFORMADA" - #arteCOVID-19.
CAM The Covid Art Museum https://www.instagram.com/covidartmuseum/