"There's an [art] app for that": The Louvre meets Apple

by Leo Caillard Plan on going to the Louvre anytime soon? If French artist Leo Caillard and Art Games in anyway predict the future, your visit may be a decidedly different experience. Reimagining a visit to the famed museum, Caillard melds Apple’s ubiquitity with that of the Louvre’s masterpieces in his digitally-developed images. 

The images depict museum patrons interacting with artwork using Apple’s navigation cues, like those you would find on an iPhone or iPad. According to Wired magazine, “Caillard arrived at the UI concept after visiting Paris’ famous museums. He saw visitors looking at masterpieces for five seconds at a time, the same way they look at pictures on a mobile phone, and then move on to the next painting.”

Caillard says the work isn’t meant to cast judgment on this new interaction with art. Rather, he says, “digital technology is changing the way we consume culture.” The pieces in Art Games reflect the very real future of consumption: browsing through masterpieces and interacting with them on individual terms, technology in tow.

That said, one can’t ignore the irony in the new work, since there is an Apple Store in the Louvre and all. A different kind of gift shop, to say the least.

Be sure to check out Caillard’s other work here.