Art and architecture have always adhered together so it is no surprise that architects all around would keep transforming the spaces to experience art. Art has always been an escape from the world, a glorification of the mundane, and a way to translate human emotions. Art has been evolving into various movements and styles throughout yet the traditional elitist sterile-windowless gallery to showcase art has dominated the architecture of museums for as long as one can remember.
Recently, the art-viewing experience has expanded the architectural spaces for cultural exchange. Such unorthodox spaces have given a new flight to the architects to create spaces that inspire pilgrimage to far-flung destinations. I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao are some of the most known examples. It has made the world recognize these spaces as world-famous destinations in themselves.
There have been many instances where old monuments were turned into galleries which just adds a historical aesthetic to the artists exhibiting in such spaces. Musee d’Orsay, in Paris which was originally built as a train station, is now home to many Impressionism and Post-impressionism work from Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Van Gogh. Another example is The Feuerle Collection in Germany is a brutalism styled museum renovated off a former telecommunications bunker giving the whole museum an intimate vibe with art.
One other such innovative example would be l’Atelier des Lumieres or Workshop of the light, a museum in Paris that takes the interaction between art and us to a new level. It exhibits a new dimension to its Vincent Van Gogh display in a way where one can observe each painting right down to the individual brush strokes. This museum covers all genres from the work made for digital audiences creating a new style of digitalization in the art gallery.
Art can never be bound neither in time nor in space. It is ever-evolving and growing. One such adaptable idea emerged of creating virtual galleries to expose the art to more common people and to give grounds to showcase more and more talents all around without going anywhere.
Google Arts and Culture is one such app that offers many tours of famous art and provides the user to engage in the world of art personally. It is no doubt that the ever-growing world of art requires architecture to keep accommodating such a variety of art without being a hindrance. To create spaces that flow with the emotions and which standouts with the best of architecture seem appropriate and with the world going digital it has opened a path to take things to the next step. With the VR technology and other such options available one can indulge in their dream concepts without adhering to the bye-laws and rules.
There is a various online platform that offers interactive 360 degrees walk-around videos with detailed descriptions to zoom-able photos giving a much closer look to the art. The newfound digital trip that we can take is one of the wonders we can now use. Many such famous museums that can be viewed online are as follows:
- Vatican Museums in Rome- The museum is known for its soaring high vaulted ceilings, exquisite murals and tapestries, and the very famous Sistine Chapel. The beauty and richness of the Vatican museum can be toured in 360-degrees images from home.
- Guggenheim, Bilbao- Frank Gehry’s famous titanium and steel building is one of the most distinctive structures of all time.
- Natural Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in South Korea– The new museum offers a virtual tour to explore the variety of art, from print, design, sculpture, photography, and digital art from all around established artists.
- Musée d’Orsay in Paris- The railway station turned museum holds the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works in the world. It is accessible in a 360-degree view of its magnificence.
- MASP, Sāo Paulo in Brazil- It is said that the Museu de Arte de Sāo Paulo has one of the broadest collections of history via a virtual platform.
With the increasing virtuality and pandemic hitting, the virtual art gallery has become a savior. Many artists have started to showcase their pieces in virtual galleries. This has not only given a platform to a lot of artists but also to architects to design spaces that are not confined to the rules of physicality. Many online sites that offer anyone to create their personal art gallery and to showcase their talent. It has also given a great opportunity to all the digital artists to innovate their art in a more expressive and yet traditional way or perhaps one can ever call it the new tradition of the culture in the world of art. The chance to design virtually is as vast as one can take it. With the opportunity to shed the brick-concrete spaces and to bring life to the concepts that are only possible in the virtual world, it is satisfactory to say that the world is adapting to satiate our appetite for art with the unreal.
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Virtual tours of Museum
