Google creative head Amit Sood dreams of bringing Rome's Sistine Chapel into the virtual walls of the innovative Google Art Project. "My secret fantasy? To bring the Sistine chapel to Google Art," Sood, founder of Google Art Project and Director at Google Cultural Institute, said when asked about the project's plans for the future which has already seen the inclusion of 345 cultural heritage partners including Florence's Uffizi Museum, Rome's Capitoline Museums and Venice's Doge's Palace, as well as Tate London, Versaille Palace and the White House.
Sood would like to add Michelangelo's photography-restricted masterpiece to the 110 museums that users can "walk through", via an indoor version of Google's Street View, a technology that provides panoramic views from positions along streets and inside museums, as well as add it to personalized Google art collection.
"Our visitors are passionate about art, but also curious. They can add text, video and anyone can create their own collection by artist, era, taste. We already have 460,000 user galleries", Sood said.
Launched in 2011 as a virtual and user-interact museum to catalogue artifacts and landmarks, with Florence's Uffizi Gallery as one of its very first partners, Google Art Project is now an enhanced and interactive virtual museum of 63 million pieces and a traffic volume of 19 million users who can go on gallery and site tours, view artwork at microscopic levels and listen and watch educational content.
"When the project launched, many feared that the public would stop physically going to museums. Instead, there has never been such a high attendance as today. And the trend is still growing, because when you admire something online, then you want to live the emotional experience in person, with your own eyes," Sood said.
With contributor experience playing a key part in the project, Sood encourages user interaction with monuments, museums, and cultural projects. Earlier this month, Google unveiled its Street Art project at Rome's Ara Pacis museum where users can walk up to and around different pieces. Street Art is a collaborative project with 30 partners, showcasing murals in 15 countries by international artists including Italian artists Agostino Iacurci and duo StenLex.
The next phase of the Google Art Project line-up may just be Rome's archaeological sites, according to Sood.
"The next goal will be 3D, to be used in all the museums, even in the archaeological sites of Rome. I think the museum of the future will be closely tied to physical and digital exhibitions", Sood said.
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