Apollo’s new Digital Innovation of the Year award commends organisations harnessing digital technology to advance access to, or knowledge of art. We’re pleased to reveal our shortlist below: the winner will be announced in the December issue of Apollo. Find out more about the Apollo Awards.
After Dark
Tate Britain, London
For five nights in August, four robots equipped with cameras roamed the galleries of Tate Britain and live-streamed their journeys to a microsite. A few of the robots’ online observers were also allowed to log in and manoeuvre them by remote control. The project was conceived by London-based design studio The Workers, winners of the first IK Prize (Tate’s award for digital innovation) in 2014.
Art Detective
Public Catalogue Foundation
Art Detective, which launched in March 2014, is a digital network that accompanies the Public Catalogue Foundation’s online database of the oil paintings in public ownership in the United Kingdom. It aims to improve knowledge of the UK’s public collections by connecting members of the public with academic and trade specialists, hosting discussions online in a number of thematic and regional forums. More on the PCF…
Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery’s first online catalogue was written and edited by Amanda Lillie from the University of York, with contributions from Caroline Campbell and Alasdair Flint. It was published in April 2014 to accompany the first exhibition in the UK exploring the role of architecture in painting – and the first exhibition anywhere to focus on architecture in Italian Renaissance painting. More on the National Gallery’s digital publishing…
Factum Foundation
Factum uses the most advanced methods currently available to document and reproduce vulnerable works of art. Recent projects include a complete scan of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, and a facsimile of Tutankhamun’s tomb, which opened alongside the original in Egypt in April this year. The foundation’s work is supported by its sister company, Factum Arte, which produces work for contemporary artists including Anish Kapoor and Marc Quinn.
Vastari
Vastari aims to put museum curators and private collectors in touch with each other through its searchable, secure database of art works of art. Museum curators can search for objects and collectors can make it known that they are willing to lend to exhibitions. The database is available only to registered curators and collectors.
Which institutions and organisations do you think are leading the way? Let us know in the comments…
Related Articles
The Art of Digital: Your Paintings, Art Detective and the PCF (Andrew Ellis)
Building the catalogue: the National Gallery and digital publishing (Caroline Campbell)
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