The National Gallery in London has announced a new digital art experience called Imaginarium – one of three major digital projects planned as part of its bicentenary year celebrations.
Imaginarium is a digital room designed to offer visitors a “slow” experience of the artworks. Developed with strategic design agency Fabrique and digital product studio Q42, the room enables audiences to imagine the painting’s world and the artist’s inspirations, and offers the opportunity to see how other visitors have interpreted the same work.
It also features an introduction from poet and novelist Ben Okri and a soundscape from sound artist Nick Ryan.
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“It’s important for the gallery to deepen the engagement with the paintings that our remote visitors can experience,” said John Stack, director of digital innovation and technology at the National Gallery.
“We know that slow looking has great benefits for deeper insights, emotional connections, and mindfulness and wellbeing. So, it makes perfect sense to us to use new technologies to bring that experience to visitors that can’t spend all the time they would like to with our paintings in person, to spark their imagination and inspire new perspectives.”
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The National Gallery has also formally launched its 200 for 200 collection of online catalogues. This is the first time that gallery has made paintings’ catalogue entries available online – featuring 2,700 images including 75 x-rays, 155 infrared images and more than 250 photomicrographs. It is also publishing academic research and new findings brought to light with recent re-examination and technical photos.
Paintings include Raphael’s Portrait of Pope Julius II from 1511, which was purchased by the government for the foundation of the National Gallery in 1824.
Finally, a new experience has been added to The Keeper of Paintings augmented reality game for children and families. The new iteration, co-created with children, is embedded throughout the building to enhance the physical experience.
The gallery’s future digital plans include a digital visitor experience integrated in the new Sainsbury Wing entrance, which due to open to the public on 10 May, including a connected canvas of high-resolution screens.
The work has been supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.