TimeOut: Hong Kong art galleries offering virtual tours and online viewing rooms. “Like many establishments in our city, Hong Kong’s art galleries have been hit hard due to the ongoing pandemic. Many shows have cancelled, postponed, and galleries have temporarily closed or have limited their on-ground visits to private viewing only. Some local galleries have turned online to deliver the viewing experience straight to your home.”
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‘People want a cultural outlet’: Lebanon’s Dalloul Art Foundation launches digital archive amid coronavirus outbreak (The National)
The National: ‘People want a cultural outlet’: Lebanon’s Dalloul Art Foundation launches digital archive amid coronavirus outbreak. “As more countries go into lockdown and governments implore their citizens to remain at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, arts organisations around the world have leapt into action, offering a different kind of outlet to millions. In Lebanon, the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation is one of them. Its website went live two weeks ago, several months earlier than originally planned, granting free access to thousands of artworks and extensive information about hundreds of artists from the Arab world.”
Art and coronavirus: Middle Eastern galleries to view on lockdown (Middle East Eye)
Middle East Eye: Art and coronavirus: Middle Eastern galleries to view on lockdown. “Museums seeking to expand their online presence could take a leaf from Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, with its high-quality downloadable digital images, or the fun of creating your own ‘studio’ collection. Meanwhile, on his upbeat Facebook feed, Lebanese art collector Basel Dalloul has been posting lists of other virtual galleries, from the Guggenheim in New York to the Sursock Museum in Beirut. The latter boasts a VR tour of its recent exhibition, Baalbek, Archives of an Eternity. Dalloul himself has just launched a website showcasing the ‘largest archive and collection of Arab art’. With the art world moving online, MEE highlights some of the best collections from the region you can view without having to leave home.”
Getty Iris: How to Use Getty Open Content for Your Custom Zoom Background
Getty Iris: How to Use Getty Open Content for Your Custom Zoom Background. “Many of us are working from home, and keeping our distance from others. Perhaps there’s a pet or a child keeping us company or getting in the way as we try to focus (insert #coworker joke here). At Getty, our in-person meetings are now virtual, and some of us have turned to the custom Zoom background to help set the mood. Getty’s Open Content program includes over 100,000 images that are free and downloadable. This means they’re also fair game to use as your own custom background.”
Crafts Magazine: Free access to Crafts Magazine’s 50 year archive
Crafts Magazine: Free access to Crafts Magazine’s 50 year archive. “At Crafts magazine, their thoughts are with all readers and contributors at this challenging time. To help brighten up isolation, they’re offering you all free access to our digital edition for a month. You can dig into every issue from the magazine’s history – from the shiny latest editions to forgotten hits from the 1970s, 80s and 90s – to while away the hours and be inspired.” This is like museum-level crafts. Sculpture, textiles — I even saw some really impressive umbrellas in one of the 1970s issues.
The Guardian: Smartify makes all museum audio tours free for rest of 2020
The Guardian: Smartify makes all museum audio tours free for rest of 2020. “Stories behind art treasures such as Delacroix’s The Death of Sardanapalus in the Louvre and a 19th-century relief of Phaeton driving the Chariot of the Sun at the Royal Academy of Arts are to made free for the rest of the year by the world’s most downloaded museum app. Smartify is often known as the ‘Shazam for art’ app in that it allows people to identify works of art by simply scanning them on a smartphone. It has about 2m artworks from more than 120 venues.”
Smithsonian Magazine: Shuttered Museums Use Social Media to Share Bouquets of Floral Artwork
Smithsonian Magazine: Shuttered Museums Use Social Media to Share Bouquets of Floral Artwork. “Last week, museums started showing love to one another by posting photos of floral artwork labeled with the hashtag #MuseumBouquet, reports Noor Brara for artnet News. The New-York Historical Society and the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden kicked off the trend by sending digital bouquets to other art institutions. The former shared its first petaled missive—a cluster of apple blossoms painted by American artist Martin Johnson Heade—with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, while the latter sent Tate Britain ‘a little cheer’ in the form of an Andy Warhol bouquet.”
