Virtually Hang a Masterpiece in your Home

AllofUs has created a free mobile app that allows users to access famous artworks from galleries across the country and virtually curate their own gallery, positioning the artworks in their surroundings, whether in the living room or on the street.

 

The Pocket Art Gallery app was commissioned by the Great British Art Debate, a partnership between Tate Britain, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service and Museums Sheffield.

 

With it, users can curate their own virtual art using an augmented reality function, whereby the user can look through their iPhone camera to see the artworks in the real world, take a photo and send it to a map – for example, a shot of Sir John Everett Millais’ iconic Ophelia placed by the Thames. In addition it offers information about the artist, the history of the piece and the subject depicted.

 

The Pocket Art Gallery app will be available across the UK and Europe, with user content directly shareable on various social channels. The app, which is native to iOS, also includes a Pocket Art Gallery map, which visualises where users' content was captured, whether it's a Turner landscape complimenting the local park, or a pre-Raphaelite painting that brightens up the city office.

 

Orlando Mathias, Creative Partner at AllofUs, said: “It has been a great opportunity to work with Tate Britain again and with these other brilliant galleries, especially on such an innovative project. We are very excited for the app to launch and are looking forward to seeing the imaginative range of locations that users post pictures from and getting them to really engage with British art.”

 

Marie Bak Mortensen National Initiatives Manager at the Tate said: “This innovative Pocket Art Gallery App uses augmented reality to bring great artworks from the UKs national collections into people lives, allowing them to share and showcase their favourite works wherever they want. It’s a wonderful way to conclude the Great British Art Debate project and to extend its legacy.”

 

The aim of the Great British Art Debate partnership is to invite the public to explore and debate ideas around Britishness and art through a series of events and exhibitions. AllofUs has harnessed digital content owned by the galleries to create the augmented reality application.

It is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, and by the MLA's Renaissance program.

 

For more information visit: http://greatbritishartdebate.tate.org.uk