With everything going on in the world, finding time to destress is important. Sometimes it’s best just to spend a little time alone to relax and distance yourself from your worries or your to-do list. These past few weeks, I have set aside time to just grab some food, wrap myself in a blanket, and decompress while browsing online art galleries. I personally find these experiences to be just as rewarding as going to an art exhibit in person, and I’ve learned to appreciate the virtual museum experience for itself.
While digital museums may seem like a sad alternative to museums of the brick-and-mortar variety, I was surprised as to how immersive the experience was. The galleries are set up like a slideshow, where you click through each picture with a description in the corner. Like at an art museum, some of these exhibits come with an audio recording that explains the art and its background. Listening to the recordings in my own house felt very different from standing in a large room, but it was similarly pleasant. An additional benefit that comes with this experience is the ability to open a new tab and do more research if I found a particular piece of art or an artist interesting. The virtual museum experience also makes visiting distant exhibits effortless, as each gallery was just one click away. Honestly speaking, going to an art museum can be rather tiring from just walking around and standing for hours in temperatures colder than most would appreciate. I suggest finding a time to sit down and visit a few by yourself or with your family to enjoy the variety of artwork that can be found. Here are a few I thought were notable and their sources.
By CyArk
“10,000 temples,
monasteries and meditation
centers over 40 square miles.”
This exhibit is pretty short, but I thought this and those similar to it were interesting because it felt more like a tour of this city in Myanmar rather than a traditional art gallery. Bagan is an ancient city that was built over 1200 years ago and is one of the largest concentrations of Buddhist temples in the world. This includes many photos taken in the city and also a quick interactive virtual viewing of the entrance to one of the temples. There is not too much to read and I enjoyed looking at the pictures and taking in the small details. I was able to look online to learn more about the history and significance of the city, and to find more of what I thought was interesting about this gallery.
A collection of urban art.
“As a snapshot in time, this project
celebrates 25 years of German reunification.
It shows an unusual side of Germany as we
know it today by portraying the generation
which was born after the Fall of the Berlin
Wall. Discover 25 stories of this
generation, illustrated by 25 German artists.”
This exhibit is much more akin to the typical art gallery experience. Each piece of art had a description and a recording that you could listen to. The audio was all in German, so I could not understand most of what they were saying, but the descriptions under each artwork told a lot about what the artist was intending with their illustrations. I really enjoyed looking at all of the art in this gallery and I felt like there were many pieces that were able to creatively visualize thoughts and affairs that people and the world have. As with the previous exhibit, I enjoyed looking at the details in each work of art as the audio played in the background. The intimacy of the online experience can enhance the joy of finding little messages within pieces, and gives you all the time in the world to connect them to common themes among the collection.