The Detroit Institute of Arts has partnered with Google and mobile developer GuidiGO to offer “Lumin,” an interactive mobile tour using augmented reality and 3-D mapping. Lumin will be available for public use beginning January 25.
Visitors will hold a Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, a small Android phone lent by the DIA while looking at a work of art. Lumin will then contextualize what the viewer is seeing by providing AR overlays, videos, photographs, sounds, and touch-activated animations. Guests will then learn additional information about the exhibit such as the work’s origin and artist information not generally known to the public.
Lumin uses Tango technology, a set of sensors, and computer vision software made by Google to provide new, in-depth ways to see and engage with the DIA’s collection. The DIA is the first art museum in the world to use 3-D mapping and AR technology utilized in smartphones to create a public mobile tour.
The DIA’s interpretive team contributed all of Lumin’s content to GuidiGO’s new AR platform, which will allow users to interact with 3-D animations, information, and display directions regarding whatever is in the guest’s field of view.
The DIA has curated a diverse collection of art in the City of Detroit for over 100 years, including American, European, modern, contemporary, and graphic art exhibits, as well as African, Asian, Native American, Oceanic, Islamic, and Ancient art.
