In a unique experiment, Google has joined hands with two leading Indian institutions -- National Museum and National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) – providing them an online platform to showcase their artworks globally.
Called the ‘Art Project', Google's initiative will enable art-lovers to discover and view more than a thousand artworks of Indian and global artists in both the museums, online.
Google's tie up with the two renowned museums under the Ministry of Culture will help people stroll through the galleries themselves using the technology from ‘Google Street View', and save specific views of artwork to create a personalised online collection. To begin with, ‘Radha and Krishna in the boat of love' from the National Museum and ‘Santiniketan Triptych' currently housed at the National Gallery of Modern Art (both in Delhi) can be enjoyed in ‘gigapixel' super high resolutions thus revealing their fine-grain details beyond what is visible to the naked eye.
The Internet giant has been organising similar ‘Art Project' in other countries covering some world famous museums and art galleries. This partnership is part of a major global expansion of the project, which now counts 151 cultural institutions in 40 countries. Globally more than 30,000 high resolution objects are currently available and ‘Street View' images cover 46 museums.
Elaborating on the Art Project, Google India Managing Director and Vice-President (Sales and Operations) Rajan Anandan said, “It illustrates Google's commitment to bringing culture online and making it accessible to the widest possible audience…In India, we have partnered with great national institutions like NGMA and National Museum to take Indian culture and art online and we hope to collaborate with more institutions across India. Internet is unlocking our culture and history, and making it accessible to everyone worldwide.”
Talking about other projects, Mr. Anandan said, “Under the Cultural Institute, Google is digitising the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela and creating 3D models of 18th century French cities. A wide range of institutions, large and small, traditional art museums as well as less traditional settings for great art, are represented in the expanded Art Project.”
Commenting on the partnership, Prof. Rajeev Lochan, Director, National Gallery of Modern Art said, “The main objective of the NGMA is to create sensitivity, awareness and understanding among national and international audiences towards the Indian idiom and art expression. The Google Art Project uses sophisticated technology to help us take this endeavour online and available to users globally.”
Similarly, National Museum Director General Pravin Srivastava noted, “This association with Google allows us to give worldwide virtual access to moments in India's history. The Art Project is an important initiative to make available and promote the heritage of our museums using state of art technology.”
