We spend time worrying about our Zoom faces. But if you’ve ever wondered about your fine art face, there’s a way to find out. How would Van Gogh or Vermeer capture you? Google’s latest Arts & Culture app update is a set of augmented reality Art Filters you can apply to your face to turn yourself into a famous painting or try on a fun accessories like a helmet or something. In all, there are five filters to check out: self-portraits from Van Gogh and Kahlo, Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, a 19th-century Samurai helmet and a faience necklace from 14th-century Egypt. We can only hope there will be more.
Whether you are a museum designer or educator this is worth checking out.
You can access the feature by tapping on the rainbow camera icon located at the bottom of the Arts & Culture app’s main interface. Before applying the filters to your face, the app will provide some history and context about the art piece. It’s a fun way to engage with history, particularly when it’s not feasible to travel to the museums where these paintings and artifacts are exhibited.
The feature uses a machine learning-based image processing algorithm to make the filters look realistic. From a privacy standpoint, Google says all processing is done locally on our own devices. Unless you decide to save an image or video to share with your friends, the app doesn’t store anything.
If you haven’t used the Google Arts & Culture app it’s worth a look–might job your creativity. Google is consistently updating the platform with new fun and educational features.
