Chicago Museum – Public Access to Our Public Presence: Sharing Our API
artic.edu
artic.edu
> Using our open API, people outside the museum have done some pretty awesome things, like allowing Alexa to browse our collection and creating a text message service that sends you a randomly selected Art Institute artwork. You can even add works to the video game Animal Crossing using the Getty’s Animal Crossing art generator. (Just click on Import using IIIF under Step 1. Manifest URLs can be found on our open-access artwork pages.)
I hope this inspires other museums to follow suit.
It’s one of the best art museums in the world! The entire museum is available in Google street view, by the way. With annotations for many of the paintings. Check this out:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8795817,-87.6233909,2a,75y,6...
I've sort of had the idea of building a museum web interface where you could walk through the space via an isometric view (sort of how adventure games worked back in the day), but this works well too. I'm amazed that the Art Institute would open up its exhibits like this. I just looked up the Met in NYC and they've digitized large swaths of their space too.
That said, I usually already visit the Art Institute about twice a year (I live in the city) and will likely continue to do so even though it's now on Google Maps. There's something immediate about seeing the works in person that makes it worthwhile to be present in the space.
You should also check out the Cleveland Museum of Art when the pandemic allows - they have a really massive touch screen where you can interact with the pieces in their collection. It’s so large that many people can use it at the same time!
Have you tried this? https://hirox-europe.com/PEARL/ (don't miss the 3D viewer)
And that virtual tour is great! It really makes the miss going to the Art Institute. Looks like they might be reopening in a couple of weeks with reduced capacity - can't wait.