Google Art Project launches in Doha

Qatar Museums Authority is celebrating its partnership with Google on Google Art Project

Doha, April 24, 2012- Qatar Museums Authority is celebrating its partnership with Google on the pathbreaking Google Art Project, which enables people to discover and view more than 30,000 artworks online in extraordinary detail including the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. The event takes place on April 24, 2012 in the Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium at 6:00 pm.

The Museum of Islamic Art and mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art are the only museum in the Middle East to keep their doors open 24/7 with the Google Art Project. Art lovers are able to explore a wide range of artworks at a brushstroke level, take a virtual tour of a museum, and even build their own collections to share from paintings, sculptures, street art, and photographs with just a few mouse clicks.

The partnership between QMA and Google is part of a major global expansion of the project, which now counts 151 partners in 40 countries. More than 30,000 high resolution objects are available, up from the original 1,000 in only nine museums. Streetview technology images now cover 46 museums, with more on the way.

Key Features

Significant technical improvements have been undertaken. Street View images are now displayed in finer quality than the original version. Users may browse the content by the artist’s name, the artwork, the type of art, the museum, the country, collections and the time period. Google+ and video hangouts are integrated on the site, allowing viewers to create even more engaging personal galleries.

Super high resolution feature artworks:

Super high resolution feature artworks: 44 Museums selected one artwork to be photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution or ‘gigapixel’ photo capturing technology. Each such image contains around 7 billion pixels, enabling the viewer to study details of the brushwork and patina beyond that possible with the naked eye. Hard to see details suddenly become clear such as the tiny Latin couplet which appears in Hans Holbein the Younger’s ‘The Merchant Georg Gisze’. Or the people hidden behind the tree in Ivanov’s ‘The Apparition of Christ to the People’.

In addition, museums provided images for a selection totaling more than 28,000 works of art. The resolution of these images, combined with a custom built zoom viewer, allows art-lovers to discover minute aspects of paintings they may never have seen up close before, such as the miniaturized people in the river of El Greco’s ‘View of Toledo’, or individual dots in Seurat’s ‘Grandcamp, Evening’

Create your own collection:

The ‘Create an Artwork Collection’ feature allows users to save specific views of any of artworks and build their own personalized collection. Comments can be added to each painting and the whole collection can then be shared with friends and family. It’s an ideal tool for students or groups to work on collaborative projects or collections.

Discover, search, and explore:

With such a large collection it was important for us to provide the tools that allow users to explore across partners using the discover tool, and then further explore artworks by that artist across all collections. A custom search integration makes it easier than ever to browse through collections, and find what your are looking for instantly.

Multi platform support:

With this launch we have finally brought the Art Project to the tablet. The experience of viewing Art on a tablet and browsing through rich content truly comes to life. Currently we support the Android platform and are hoping to have the Ipad version ready post launch.

Nelson Mattos, VP Engineering, Google

“Google is committed to bringing all types of culture online and making it accessible. The Art Project demonstrates how the Internet helps spread knowledge.

Amit Sood, Head of Art Project, Google

“The new expanded Art Project demonstrates our commitment to all types of art - and cultures and civilizations all across the globe.  The Art Project is no longer just about the Indian student wanting to visit MoMA in New York. It is now also about the American student wanting to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi.”

Aisha Al Khater, Director, Museum of Islamic Art

“We are very pleased to be the first museum in the Middle East to participate in the Google Art Project’s 360-degree Street View offering. While we hope that all viewers may visit our Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, we believe that this virtual tour offering allows us to bring the museum’s collections, galleries, and architectural spaces into the homes of diverse people across the globe—regardless of class, income, or ability to travel—all via an interactive digital experience.”

Wassan Al Khudairi, Director, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art

“Participating in the Google Art Project is a unique way for Mathaf to broaden its outreach to an even wider audience.  It offers an exciting way to share our collection and continue the museum’s goals to expand people’s ideas about the region and present an Arab perspective on modern and contemporary art.”

The Art Project epitomizes Google’s commitment to bringing culture online and making it accessible to the widest possible audience.  Under the auspices of the Cultural Institute, Google is producing high resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela, and creating 3D models of 18th century French cities.