Artist Explains with AR

Art is interesting, even for people who are not professionals. But art can also be confusing, and sometimes it would be great to learn more about the piece in question. The idea of ‘Artist Explains’ is that while walking through an exhibition, visitors can pull out their phone to have the artist appear next to their artwork, explaining their ideas and processes or even reacting to questions. Users could scan a QR code with an app or let it recognize the artwork visually.

Benefits

Creates a sort of personal connection between the artwork, the artist, and the onlooker. Actually understanding the artists ideas can make the whole museum experience more interesting and pleasant. It is an especially great way of giving children and students an understanding of art and culture. They are a lot less frustrated and a lot more likely to benefit from the visit. In turn, that is how museums, galleries and artists can benefit from this as well. More satisfied audiences are more likely to come back. And children that gain interest in art are their future audience.

Challenges

What could be challenging is the availability of the service. Elderly people or young kids might not have smartphones to view the prepared contents. To work around that, this could be implemented into a new museum guide system, that would take away the need for personal devices.

There is also the question if artists actually want to explain their work since some magic of art is lost. It might make everyone perceive it equally, taking away part of why art is so valuable to us.

Take Away

It’s everyone’s personal choice whether to make use of this idea or not. However, especially for early art education, where the individual perception of art is still being formed, this could present a particularly personal and intuitive way of learning. It surely offers great possibilities in art education, both for young and old.

Examples

Do you know of any such apps or even case studies?
Let us know!