Get inside.
Today MoMA announced the release of its new app for Apple’s iPhone, and iPod Touch, now available on the App Store. It’s a free download that provides views of 32,000 works from the Museum’s collection, plus lots of very useful extras, including a dictionary of art terms, a database of artist bios, a calendar of exhibitions, film screenings, and events, and a variety of audio tours for youngsters, as well as for the visually impaired.
Toura, a New York mobile applications company that creates virtual tours will be using angel investors’ $1.5 million in seed money to develop virtual tours of cultural institutions and other attractions.
The Art Institute of Chicago is prepping its free multimedia app with Toura sometime in the next few weeks. The app is free and is expected to be available on a range of devices including the iPhone and iPad.
Toura claims that by handing them the keys to the virtual art space, those institutions will no longer have to worry about having an in-house technologist working on costly software programs in order to update their online content — Toura will do it for them.
“The Art Institute of Chicago is always looking for innovative ways to inspire and educate the public about our collection and exhibitions,” said James Cuno, the museum’s President and Director, in a statement. “Toura’s attractive package of technology and services makes it easy for us to bring the museum’s collection to life through a series of applications on smartphones, with the first coming later this spring.”
The Art Machine 