The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of audio guides (piloted on a trial basis in 2007) has gone interactive! The museum’s Collection app has just released an upgraded version which features hotspots with further information about selected artworks.

The new app is part of the Smithsonian-Museums and Galleries project, a joint effort between the Smithsonian Institution, the Association of Art Museum Directors and the Software & Information Industry Association. It is available for free download on Apple’s App Store and Google Play, as well as on the museum’s webpage.

According to the museum, “the app, created by Spiral Media, includes more than 860 hand-chosen images from around 1,200 works of art in our collection.”

Robert Cozzolino, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Metropolitan Museum stated that “the new iOS app will introduce visitors to individual works through a high resolution image, often a detail that captures an important aspect of the work. Users can then click to learn more about the work or artist and save the image to their phone to share with family and friends.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection is a treasure of arts from around the world. It offers one of the most diverse range of exhibits and conservations to be found in any art museum. And now its collection can be brought to life through the Met’s new interactive audio guides.

Travelling through New York with your family or friends, the Met’s Audio Guide will not only provide you with information about each exhibit, but also allow you to access additional content through your smartphone or tablet.

The new app has been made available for free download at The App Store and Google Play directly from the Met’s official website.**

Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new interactive audio guide to its collection, containing more than 1000 works of art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has just launched a brand new multimedia experience for visitors to the museum. The latest edition of the popular audio guides features more than 1000 works of art, including many masterpieces that are rarely on view. It provides a unique opportunity to explore the museum in depth and from multiple perspectives.

The audio guides have been designed to be used both on the go and in conjunction with an exhibition tour or visit to a specific gallery. The tours vary in length from about 25 minutes for individual objects to about 2 hours for special exhibition galleries.

The Met hopes to release several new tours per year over time, adding new tours as well as updating existing ones with fresh content, so that visitors may return again and again to see what’s new at the museum.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers an audio guide tour to visitors, free of charge. Visitors can set off on their own tour of the museum through a series of audio stations located throughout the museum’s collection. The audio tour is available in several languages and can be downloaded in mp3 format.

A visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection is always enjoyable, but it can also be difficult to navigate when you are unfamiliar with the collection. The audio guides offer a great introduction to the museum’s collection and provide information about works that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Tours are available for both adults and children, as well as for people who speak English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. Each audio station contains information about the work or artifact located there. Some of these tours are more than 30 minutes long and others are shorter, depending on how many pieces you want to learn about.

The best part is that you can take your time and view each piece at your own pace—you don’t have to worry about missing something! The audio guide allows visitors to go at their own pace without feeling rushed by crowds or other visitors. It also helps you avoid getting lost in a huge museum like this one.*

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s web site has recently published an article about their new audio guides, which are available at the museum and on iTunes.

These audio guides, each tailored to a specific art work or collection in the museum, are narrated by Walter Isaccson, a noted photographer and journalist. These guides have been edited from the printed label cards previously found around the museum.

The digital version allows for more detailed information than would otherwise be possible due to its length restrictions. In addition, by being easily searchable makes it more accessible for visitors.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently working on creating new audio guides for their permanent collection as well as for other museums such as the Morgan Library and Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. They plan to release these by 2012.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection is so extensive that it can be hard to find the time to get to know it. The Met is now introducing a new way to experience its art collections, with interactive audio guides that visitors can access from a smartphone or tablet.

Now, visitors can choose from three genres of audio tours: “Art 101,” designed for visitors who want an introduction to art; “Thematic Tours,” which explore specific topics in depth; and “Partner Tours,” which offer art-related stories told by non-Met experts, such as curators and artists.

Forward-thinking museums are using mobile technology to enhance the visitor experience. The new audio guides allow visitors to connect with the art around them through their own devices, which creates a more personal connection between the visitor and the works on view. It also creates a more democratic museum experience, allowing anyone with access to the internet — including visitors who don’t have smartphones — a chance to enjoy these tours.

—- http://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2016/papers/russo/russo_mw16paper_02.html

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection is so rich that it is almost impossible to cover it all in just one museum visit. The vastness of this collection provides the Met with the resources to be a center for art appreciation and learning worldwide.

The Met’s audio guides are one way to learn more about the Museum’s collection. With ten tours and some 35 hours of recorded material, the audio guides provide an excellent introduction to art history, music and architecture. These self-guided tours are available for free at any time at special kiosks throughout the Museum or online.

The tour covers a wide range of topics including Ancient Near Eastern art, Native American art, Medieval and Renaissance paintings, Asian art and modern European and American art.

Each tour is unique in its approach and can be used by visitors at any level of experience. Most guides feature commentary from curators and conservators who discuss individual works of art as well as their historical context. This approach offers valuable insight into the way museum professionals view each work of art within the context of its time period and influences. Some tours also include basic information on how to read a work of art, such as looking for symbolism or figurative elements within a painting or sculpture.