Virtual Museum Visits
The pandemic has helped make virtual visits and tours a reality at many of the best museums in the world. Assembled below are a small selection of museums open for virtual tours 24 hours a day. Google Arts & Culture has partnered with over 2000 museums to assemble an encyclopedia of ‘augmented reality’ tours, one of Google’s most ambitious and enjoyable projects.
In the Dalí Theatre museum in Figueras, there is a ‘ Mae West room’ — a three- dimensional living room scene installation, with custom built furniture that takes shape as the ‘face’ of Mae West, when viewed from a certain angle.
The Dalí Theatre-Museum (Figueres, Spain) Dedicated to the life and work of the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, the Dalí Theatre-Museum displays the single largest and most diverse collection of works by the artist. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3-dimensional collages, mechanical devices, and other curiosities from Dalí’s imagination. Through the website, guests can take a virtual tour in 360-degree of the entire museum.
The Rivera Courtyard at the D.I.A.
The Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan) is now open with limited hours. They have several virtual tours available including a virtual tour of the 2020 offrenda altars: “In celebration of Dia de Muertos, the Detroit Institute of Arts, in partnership with Detroit’s Mexican Consulate, invite you to explore a community exhibition of ofrenda altars. In Mexico, and other Latin American countries, the Day of the Dead is the time of the year to celebrate the lives of close relatives, friends or community members who have passed away.”
The museum has put together an “At Home With DIA” to offer school field trips at home, weekly film screenings, senior resources, and home projects. The DIA also has a partnership with Google Arts and Culture to provide 4 online virtual exhibits:
•Frida Kahlo in Detroit
•Ordinary People by Extraordinary Artists
•Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry
•Self Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States
Cranbrook Art Museum
The Cranbrook Art Museum, (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) is open Wednesday through Sunday. Situated on a lush, 319-acre campus of world-renowned architecture, sculpture, and gardens, it was described by architecture critic Wolf von Eckardt as “the most enchanted and enchanting setting in America,” in 1989 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.
The Cranbrook Art Museum has also made several of their exhibitions into virtual tours.
Smithsonian Magazine has compiled a collection of 68 online Culture, History and Science collections you can browse from in the comfort of your living room. These are great places to explore and share with friends and family: EXPLORE SMITHSONIAN COLLECTIONS.
Explore the strange and wonderful true stories behind museum objects. The Object Podcast is produced by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and hosted by Tim Gihring. This series of short, surprising, true stories offers an object’s view of us—our ambitions, our creativity, our humanity. Touching on race, class, immigration, gender, and other issues that continue to shape the world today, it’s the museum as you’ve never heard it before.
Inside the Palm House, Kew Gardens RBG Kew / Thom Hudson
The Kew Gardens, outside of London date back to 1759, when they were a royal palace. Today they are the largest public gardens on the planet. “Our mission is to unlock the potential of plants and fungi, through the power of scientific discovery and research.” Take a virtual visit to the glass houses, arbors and outdoor features of the Kew gardens.