Istanbul Modern joins the Google Art Project

Istanbul Modern joins the Google Art Project

30 works by 24 artists from the museum collection can be viewed in the project

The Istanbul Museum of Modern Art is now part of the Google Art Project which provides the opportunity to take online tours of acclaimed museums and art and cultural institutions of the world. Encompassing the partnership of 180 major art institutions from over 40 countries, the Google Art Project enables visitors to enjoy more than 35,000 works of art in high resolution.

According to the announcement made by Google, 29 new art organizations from 14 countries have been added to the project. Besides Istanbul Modern, these organizations include the Art Gallery of South Australia which has contributed 600 works to the project, the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio in Italy, and Princeton University. With the addition of new organizations the number of works in the project is increasing by 10% including a collection from the National Ballet of Canada, pre-Columbian art from Peru, and decorative arts from China.

30 works by 24 artists from the Istanbul Modern collection can be viewed in the Google Art Project. Visitors can enjoy paintings, installations, photography, and sculptures from the museum collection by artists Azade Köker, Bedri Baykam, Bengü Karaduman, Ekrem Yalçındağ, İpek Duben, İrfan Önürmen, Mustafa Horasan, Tayfun Erdoğmuş, Temür Köran, Turan Aksoy, Gül Ilgaz, Ahmet Oran, Murat Akagündüz, Mustafa Pancar, Ergin İnan, Balkan Naci İslimyeli, Mehmet Güleryüz, Rahmi Aksungur, Aslı Torcu, Hakan Onur, Burcu Perçin, Hüsamettin Koçan, Haluk Akakçe, and Canan Dağdelen.

Works selected from the Istanbul Modern collection can also be viewed at the www.istanbulmodern.org web site as well as the museum app developed for Android, iPhone, and iPad.

Among new features added to the Google Art Project is the “Compare” button to the left of artworks which will function as a great educational tool for art enthusiasts. Users will thus be able to compare two different artworks by the same artist and discover the changes in the artist’s style and alterations in his/her vision. A Hangout app added to the project’s Google+ page, which has over 2 million followers, allows visitors to share their favorite collections and give their friends personal guided tours.

Stating that it is an exciting time for art lovers who now have online access to many museums and collections ranging from Brazil to India to Japan, Head of Google Art Project Amit Sood says that adding even a single work of art to the project takes a huge amount of effort from contributing institutions and therefore it is incredible that such progress has been made in only a few short years.

Since Google’s announcement in April of a major expansion of the project, 15 million people have visited the site. More than 300,000 personal galleries have been created so far under the “My Gallery” section where users can build and share their own collections using art from the site. Google launched the Google Art Project at www.googleartproject.com with a database that can be searched according to categories including artist, artwork, museum/collection name, city, and country. Users have online access to many museums including the New York Metropolitan, Berlin Alte Nationalgalerie, Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Florence Uffizi, St. Petersburg State Hermitage, Madrid Museo Reina Sofia, and London Tate Britain.