In the last post I waxed poetic about Google Arts & Culture as an Ali Baba’s Cave of Wonders for Museum Lovers stuck at home. (And even before the #stayhome days, I made this list of online exhibitions!) Now I’d like to share some of my favorite other online museum sites with you – and I’d be delighted to hear about your own favorites on the Forum or the Contact page!
- Dallas Contemporary‘s online program #DCfromHome includes an awesome set of at-home art activities for the young-at-heart. Glittery slime is on the top of my to-do list! The guides to analyzing of two stunning artworks together (with kids or anyone else!) are fantastic.
- Smartify: devastaingly cool app. While it can do the party trick of scanning an artwork and telling you what it is, it’s SO MUCH MORE than that. My favorite thing are the free tours: Mary Bead takes you through the Royal Academy collection in London, artists narrate slideshows of their own work – it’s incredible!! This Guardian article mentions a number of tours and exhibitions that are now free on Smartify.
- How about the old-fashioned telephone? I just love this idea by the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, based on their current exhibition about miracles (in Dutch): call their number to hear about a miracle that happened to a staff member – or to request a miracle!
- The Frick Collection in New York lets you walk through the museum virtually, and click on artworks along the way to see more information and immensely detailed photos of them! Similar to the Google Arts & Culture format – I’m a total sucker for this.
- Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida has a series of wonderful short videos on their Facebook page: interviews with astronauts, videos of rocket launches, and more. My favorite are the mini-tours (between 3 and 10 minutes long) led by their upbeat Educator Stephen. He’s great! Check out this new one on moon rocks!
- The American Museum of Natural History in New York also has a stupefying array of videos and virtual tours on their Facebook page. Get lost in the giraffe dioramas or watch a video on the history of primates!
This is just a small selection of my personal faves; I’ll post more as I keep exploring. Let me know about your own favorites on the Forum or the Contact page!