If my blog hasn’t made it clear yet, I strive to make history and culture accessible to anyone and everyone. Where I live is a decently sized city, but there still isn’t a lot in terms of exhibitions/ museums/ performing arts. And I know that a lot of people live in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas, and might not have any access at all. A lot of my readers who live in or near major cities (Toronto, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, etc) respond to many of my “online” posts saying that they much prefer to see things in person, but that is a privilege that not everyone has. Today I want to look at one of the best free ways to explore culture online- Google Arts and Culture!
What is Google Arts and Culture?
According to Google, “Google Arts & Culture is a non-profit initiative. We work with cultural institutions and artists around the world. Together, our mission is to preserve and bring the world’s art and culture online so it’s accessible to anyone, anywhere.”
Google partners with different museums, theatres, historic sites, organisations, and companies to bring culture and history online. There are tours of sites, online exhibitions, stories (aka shorter articles), online collections, interviews, archives, and more to discover. Quite frankly, it is rather a treasure trove once you start poking around.
You can use Google Arts and Culture through your browser, or through the dedicated app (more on that later).
You can find Google Arts and Culture here: https://artsandculture.google.com/.
What You Can Expect From Google Arts and Culture
If you are looking to do in-depth research on something, Google Arts and Culture is not for you. If you are looking to discover a new historic site or get an interactive introduction to something or get a feeling for a museum, this is for you.
A lot of the site focuses on more traditional art- ie. paintings, sculptures, galleries. When it originally launched in 2011/2012, there were a lot of criticisms because it only included these traditional art forms from western society. However, new museums, sites, and organisations join the site each year.
I would say that there is something for everyone, with the number of partners. For example, if you were interested in the history of Balenciaga, you can find items from the fashion house itself, a tour of the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum in Getaria, and several different exhibitions from the Balenciaga Museum and others.
You can tour the Palace of Versailles and London’s Roman Amphitheatre and the MOMA in New York. While I don’t believe that doing a tour online replaces doing a tour in person, not everyone can get to these places in person, and this is still a wonderful way to explore!
And as one might expect, I am thrilled that there is quite a lot of ballet-related content on the site. You can learn about the history of ballet, the history of different companies and theatres, and even check in with current ballet companies.
If you are interested in any area of culture or history, I would check the site.
Google Arts and Culture Games/ Experiments
I have to say, I think that the Google Arts and Culture Games are a lot of fun and a great way to get people involved and interested in culture, art, and history. Art Selfie allows you to take a selfie and then find paintings with people that look like you (ironically, mine always vary widely…) You can turn yourself into the Mona Lisa, or do any number of word searches and crosswords, or even digitally colour a famous work of art. If you are looking to get kids interested in these topics, these games are a great way to introduce them. (It’s also fun as an adult- the Christmas colouring book is one of my favourites! You can also look at art sorted by colour, and there is something very soothing about it.
If you are interested in the games, I would recommend downloading the app (available on both Android and iOS)- some of the games, like Art Selfie, are only available on the app. I also find that doing something in the app feels more fulfilling than scrolling on Instagram or Twitter.
*A note- some games/ experiments are harder than others. It took me ages to figure out how to do the puzzles, for example. (It is not intuitive to drag the puzzle pieces to the edges of the screen and assemble it on the side!)
How Can You Use This As a Source?
As always, you should never trust a source blindly. Google Arts and Culture does have the museums and organisations they partner with do write some of their content, but some exhibitions/ stories are noted to have been created by a third party. (I have actually contacted museums to ask further questions, they have all been lovely!)
If you are well-versed or an expert in a topic, this site will probably not help you in your primary research. You might find some cool asides that you hadn’t come across before, but this isn’t aimed at the expert. However, if you are newer to a topic, it can be a great way to visualise the topic and dip your toes in.
While there are museums and tours and artworks online, you can also search for general concepts like “Romanticism”. Google Arts and Culture should not be your only source, but it is a great way to get a feeling for something. It also can be helpful for pointing you towards more sources to use- like I said above, don’t be shy about contacting museums and organisations to ask more questions. And if you are interested in a shorter online exhibition or story, I would recommend going directly to their website as they often have more.
*A note- I have come across some pages that include quotes from Wikipedia, which should not be cited. If you find something you want to cite, find it on the organisation’s site directly.
If you have been itching to discover a new historical site, want to learn a bit more about an artist, or maybe just want a tad more culture in your life, give Google Arts and Culture a try!
Cheers,
The Historian
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Thanks for this, I’ve seen Google Arts pop up on my social media but ignored it! I have to say there is nothing like visiting art in person but even if you could, you can’t get everywhere. I would also say though that art and culture is also everywhere, in your local architecture, places of worship , look up, look down, look around.
I have talked to a lot of people who live in very remote locations who love it- you can be 8+ hours from the next town depending on where you are in Canada, and you can exhaust your town pretty quickly haha. I like that GAC is a different experience from a traditional visit, too! It’s not trying to mimic the same experience, but give you a different experience with the same materials/information 😊