Science and art are different manifestations of the same human urge to enquire, explore, and understand our place in the Universe. Recently I wrote a blog about the #fashtech movement, which charts and celebrates the convergence of fashion and technology.

Let’s now look at 5 examples of how #arttech is impacting the way that we experience, create and consume art. 

1. ‘Bruegel. Unseen Masterpieces’

Seeing great works of art used to be the privilege of a rare few, fortunate enough to live in, or able to travel to, the cities where paintings, sculptures and installations are displayed in galleries and museums. Art and Technology are combining in exciting ways, especially in virtual reality (VR), to bring masterpieces to the masses.

During a recent visit to Brussels, I paid a visit to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, to experience a wonderful exhibition called ‘Bruegel. Unseen Masterpieces’. The exhibition runs until 16 March 2020, you can immerse yourself in the masterpieces of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, through a wide spectrum of virtual and onsite experiences. Bruegel's works of art - many of which are so delicate that they have not been displayed for over 100 years - are now brought together using some pioneering technology.

The exhibition can be accessed on the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium’s interactive screens, on their mobile app and on the Google Cultural Institute platform.

2. Royal Academy of Arts - Ai Weiwei 360

Ai Weiwei at the RA was the cultural phenomenon of the year. If you weren’t lucky enough to see the show, this is your chance to experience it online.

Introduced by RA Artistic Director Tim Marlow and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, together with a voiceover from Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow, the tour consists of navigable 360°imagery, video and audio channels. A huge range of specially created video helps you to discover the meaning, context and technical detail of Ai Weiwei’s work.

You can explore Ai Weiwei 360 on your desktop, tablet or smartphone using just your internet browser. This is also the first exhibition to be captured in photo realistic stereoscopic 3D, available  on both Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard.

3. Whist - 360 Film and Theatre

Happy Finish helped AΦE to create WHIST, an innovative 360 Virtual Reality film which has been supported by funding from the Arts Council England.

WHIST is an endeavour to unlock the potential of a new medium. The 360 medium where virtual and augmented worlds are built. Worlds where soon, the possibility for experience will only be limited by the imagination of the creator. To create in this field requires an entirely new approach, and with AΦE we found minds that were willing to forget everything they knew and begin a joint process of discovery, inspired by the work of Sigmund Freud and Shuji Tereyama.

4. Art Buying - The online buying-habits of millennials

In my role as Creative Evangelist with Happy Finish, I keynote speak at many Advertising industry festivals and events. One thing they all seem to discuss in great detail is how to reach millennials and understand their online shopping habits.

This applies to the art market too. Fueled by the expansion of a number of online platforms, the online art market has grown from $1.57 billion in 2013, to $2.62 billion in 2014, to last year’s figure of $3.27 billion. If growth continues at this rate, the online art market will be worth around $9.58 billion by the end of the decade.

Virtual galleries like Daata Editions and discovery platforms like Artsy and Invaluable, show an increasing trend in the move away from bricks and mortal to online shoppable galleries. A new study commissioned by the latter suggests that 44.3 percent of young millennials (ages 18-24) and 33.8 percent of older millennials (ages 25-34) find new art through social media channels like Instagram and Pinterest. For companies like Invaluable, which aggregates content from auction houses and galleries around the world, these findings offer confidence in the battle to win the hearts, minds, and, most importantly, wallets, of the millennial generation.

5. Disney and HTC Vive - 3D VR Paintings

I’m such a huge fan of Picasso, I even named my son Pablo! I love Gjon Mili’s 1949 photos of the 68-year-old Picasso painting with light. Every Bonfire Night, I always draw a bull in the air with my fading sparkler, much to the annoyance of my kids, so I was enthralled when Happy Finish recently took delivery of an HTC Vive and I began playing with Tilt, it’s awesome 3D paint system.

Now... I’ve never been much of an artist, and my virtual art creations were pretty poor to say the least, but I thought, how amazing this tool could be in the hands of a professional. Then I came across this article on Mashable in which veteran Disney animator Glen Keane takes the HTC app through its paces, as he creates iconic animation imagery inside VR space. Read the article for yourself and enjoy the video showing Keane create beloved Disney characters, Beast and Ariel, in stunning 3D VR.

The potential of this device is huge, from inspiring a new generation of young artists, to assisting industrial and architectural design. I urge you to get on an HTC Vive with Google Tilt and give it a go!

We have an HTC Vive at Happy Finish that we’re using to develop VR experiences for our clients. Until now, most of the experiences we’ve created have been best enjoyed whilst seated. I love how the Vive enables the user to get up and move around within the VR space. While the clarity of the Vive's screens is impressive, it's the motion tracking which is likely to make this the must-have VR headset of this year. It comes with two wireless infrared Lighthouse cameras, which are placed in the corners of a room, and follow the headset's 37 sensors (70 in total, including each controller).  The result is that you're able to move freely within your living room with the headset on and it'll track your every move, and this in turn helps make it feel like you're exploring a space.

When you experience art in a museum, gallery or boutique, you move around it, especially if it’s a piece of sculpture. This blend of art and tech, is a major break through and we look forward to incorporating it into the stories and experiences we create for our clients.

From experiencing art in a virtual art gallery to creating it in a 360° canvas, the convergence of art and technology in the form of VR is giving creatives new tools of expression in one of the most immersive platforms yet. With the growth in this industry continuing to bound forward, the potential to share this content with wider, fully-engaged audiences is quickly becoming virtually unmatched. For more information on the aptitude of the medium, feel free to get in touch with our team and we will happily speak with you.