Greek Art Now is a project on the Google Arts & Culture platform, aiming to digitize selected artworks from the collections of seven major Greek museums, and contribute to their promotion on for a global audience.
The project was realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and is the result of a multi-layered collaboration between the Google Arts & Culture platform, the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), and the Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki (MOMus) – a museums’ network comprised of the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, the Experimental Center for the Arts and the Museum Alex Mylona.
The digital exhibition presents the evolution of Greek art from the 19th century to the present day through more than 60 digital stories and 1,800 high-resolution images, including works by contemporary artists and selected exhibits from the internationally renowned Kostakis Collection.
Users of the Google Arts & Culture platform can take virtual tours of the participating museums, explore artworks in the finest detail with the Art Camera, and discover the hidden stories and narratives behind the works.
Users even have the opportunity to interact with some of the works in original and creative ways. Through the platform, they can create digital reconstructions and explore them from a completely new, interactive perspective.
In addition, the exhibition “A World Without Blue”—part of the platform’s Pocket Gallery—offers an immersive augmented reality experience. Artworks can be discovered virtually and independently of location directly from a mobile phone.
The innovative project was presented on June 10 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens.
Addressing the event, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis thanked and congratulated the Google group, the Ministry of Culture, and everyone who contributed to the implementation of the project, expressing the hope that many users will now have the opportunity to discover Greece’s vibrant modern and contemporary artistic production. He also emphasized that it has always been a central priority of the government’s cultural policy to demonstrate that Greece is not just the heir of “a glorious past, but also boasts a strong present and a promising future.”
The event was also addressed by Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, who stated among else: “The cultural sector holds a special place within the national digital strategy developed and implemented by the government under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In recent years, the Ministry of Culture has significantly advanced the planning and implementation of digital projects – with a clear focus on modernization and reform, both in terms of infrastructure and the development of high-quality products and services. “
As she explained, for the implementation of this project, human, institutional, and financial resources at both national and European levels were strategically mobilized, accompanied by the transfer of knowledge and consolidation of expertise through synergetic collaboration with scientific, research, and private sector partners in the IT and communications industries, both domestically and internationally. She added that she is “convinced that the result fully meets the goals we set at the beginning of the collaboration between our three cultural institutions – the National Gallery, EMST, and MOMus – and Google, and represents real added value for both the museum collections and the platform itself.”
In her speech, Peggy Antonakou, Regional General Manager for Southeast Europe, pointed out that this collaboration between Google and the Ministry of Culture and leading cultural institutions in Greece underscores the importance of contemporary Greek art, with technology making it accessible to everyone, at any point and place, while Amit Sood, Director of Google’s Cultural Institute and founder of the Google Art Project, said that “Greece – a country with an ancient and significant cultural tradition – has inspired us to highlight its modern artistic creativity so that more people can discover its excellence and creativity.”
“Greek Art Now” is now available on Google Arts & Culture and for app downloading on Android or iOS.
