Turning cultural artifacts into interactive learning companions

SOURCE | 5 hours ago

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Uncover the history of nearly 200 3D cultural artifacts, or put your visual recall to the test in an art memory game.

Freya Salway

Head of Google Arts & Culture Lab

A split image showing "Museum Memory" in white text over faint classical statues on a pink background, next to "The Talking Museum" alongside an astronaut with a soundwave speech bubble on a light beige background.

Interact with art and history in new ways

What if museum artifacts could talk? Google Arts & Culture Lab explores this concept with The Talking Museum, a Gemini-assisted experience that lets you get an up-close look at almost 200 3D cultural objects — and ask them questions. Google Arts & Culture Lab is also debuting Museum Memory, an interactive game that challenges players to restore scrambled art gallery exhibitions.

Both experiments are part of Google Arts & Culture Lab’s artist residency program and ongoing efforts to utilize technology to connect people to culture in new ways.

The Talking Museum brings artifacts to life.

Google Arts & Culture Lab artist in residence Lex Fefegha created The Talking Museum to bring an array of cultural objects — spanning prehistoric times to the present day — into a virtual study room.

The Talking Museum invites you to explore more than 190 cultural artifacts from Google Arts & Culture partners. Browse artifacts by size, material, or era, and bring individual artifacts into your virtual study room. Uncover the history of each artifact by listening to Gemini-powered audio commentary, and ask questions as you zoom in on or rotate each piece for a full 360-degree view. Hotspots help you discover unique points of interest as Gemini guides you through the stories behind the artifacts.

Museum Memory tests your recall.

Game designer Carol Mertz and game developer Mary McKenzie created Museum Memory, which is set inside a virtual museum gallery and requires a good memory and a sharp eye.

To play the game, you first observe how paintings are hung in a virtual exhibition space and do your best to memorize the placement of each artwork. Once time is up, the paintings are scrambled, and it's up to you to restore the exhibition. It’s a fun, easy way to train your memory — and discover works of art along the way.

Test your observation skills by restoring scrambled exhibitions in this interactive game.

The 'Museum Memory' game screen against a bright green background, featuring several framed artworks hung on display alongside collage-style illustrations of a large rooster and a horned animal.