Museums and galleries around the world may have closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic, but people are still managing to get their art and culture fix thanks to the ever-growing catalogue of digital exhibitions, virtual tours and other inventive online platforms which keep sprouting up.
We just discovered a platform where art lovers who want an unmediated art experience can conjure up the gallery of their dreams.
Occupy White Walls (OWW), a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game, lets armchair gallerists and amateur art historians create their own gallery spaces.
Yarden Yaroshevski, chief executive of StikiPixels, the London-based tech firm behind the game, said in an interview to The New York Times that the massive multiplayer game lets people build galleries and create their own museums, and also serves as a platform for emerging artists.
And it's really detailed. To create the building, you can choose from 2,200 architectural assets, including art deco lighting, spiral staircases and stained-glass windows. More than 6,000 real-life artworks are available to display inside the museum. Players get a helping hand from Daisy, an AI assistant, who interprets their collection and suggests work they might like. You can also acquire new pieces, visit other galleries to look at what others are doing, and leave feedback at the reception desks.
This game is available for free via Microsoft&rsquos Steam and has acquired 10,000 new players in the months of March and April, adding to the 40,000 existing users. Till now, players have created some 50,000 galleries covering almost 215 million virtual square feet.
StikiPixels is planning to expand OWW further. They are working on an update that includes 3-D installations and sculptures (for now, they are only available in 2-D). The start-up will soon allow players to upload their artworks, which could turn the game function into a virtual marketplace in the future.
