AMT Lab @ CMU

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If Van Gogh Had Google Glass...

According to Google executives, Google Glass, a new type of high tech glasses, will be released to the public at the end of this year. By bringing heads up display-style views into our daily life, Google’s Glass project will enable users to interact simultaneously with their surroundings and the internet in a dynamic and instant way. An engineer who had the opportunity to try out the Google Glass released a video showcasing how she will use Google Glass in the future:

[embed width="560" height="315"]http://youtu.be/9c6W4CCU9M4[/embed]

The tech giant has set up a competition on Twitter and Google+ to explore potential ways to use the new product and give some lucky winners the shot at owning a pair of Google's glasses. "We're looking for bold, creative individuals who want to join us and be a part of shaping the future of Glass" writes Google. If you don’t think Google Glass will impact Arts Management, you sure might after reading the following 10 interesting ideas posted @Twitter #ifihadglass :

  • I would use it to show people how I make it through life and do to work on my art,missing my right arm.
  • I'd treat the world as my canvas; I'd share the art that is the human experience, and rejoice in music, travel, life and love!
  • I would record the process start to finish as I make new pieces of art.
  • I would show the galleries and art exhibits for others to see the art if they don’t have time, and the art scene in San Francisco.
  • I'd give free guides to tourists explaining the history and meaning of obscure pieces of art.
  • I would like to use google glass in Art museums to pull up all information and references for each artwork I viewed
  • I would be excited to test potential uses for museums, immersive experiences and digital learning about art, culture, history.
  • Analytics and Art. Figuring out what parts of the day my brain drops from memory, where its focusing, and why.
  • Explore the combination of the virtual and the real through performance art. Collaborate with fellow artists through what I see.
  • If I had glass, I would redesign the way that we shoot videos and take photography, helping viewers immerse themselves in art.

One of the most amazing impacts of Google Glass would be that Google Glass  has the ability to offer a new perspective for audiences to appreciate art—from an artist’s perspective. Google Glass enables an artist to record and show the whole process of making an artwork, offering opportunities for audiences to watch every minute change the artist makes in the work. Imagine if Van Gogh had recorded his process from start to finish when he was painting "Sunflower," how amazing it would be if his audience saw how he mixed colors, sketched on canvas, drew lines, or grabbed a painting brush. Everyone is likely to think as an artist if he/she could watch the birth of an artwork from an artist’s eye. I believe that by appreciating artworks from an artist’s perspective, audiences will be moved and surprised by details that cannot be seen from the final artwork, or noticed from curators’ words, since the power of art lies in the creation process more than the final “product”.