The now two-year-old Google Arts and Culture app, which is just one in a long line of applications introduced by the search engine giant, wouldn’t be that popular but for one recent update.
This is its selfie option – the most recent update, which enables users to take selfies and, most prominently, to compare themselves to works of art.
„Is your portrait in a museum?“ Google asks. „Take a selfie and search thousands of artworks to see if any look like you,“ Google’s inviting comment reads.
My doppelgänger according to Google’s Arts & Culture app. I must admit that I often have that expression on my face during newsroom meetings. pic.twitter.com/7LFeXoOnzT
I can’t say this really looks like me. But we’re having fun with the Google Arts & Culture app! #GoogleArtsandCulture pic.twitter.com/Y7zI19kMWc
The feature appeared roughly a month ago, but first went unnoticed due to the lack of promotion. The general public eventually found it over the Christmas period, eventually driving the application to the top of both Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
Checking out the Google Arts & Culture app… pic.twitter.com/5n2fur9bzL
The Arts and Culture app was originally designed to promote pieces of art and culture in the course of virtual tours round the world’s most famed fine art museums, the Guggenheim Museum in Spain’s Bilbao and the Dutch Rijksmuseum just to name a few.
The app is currently available throughout the US except for the states of Illinois and Texas. It remains unclear when it will travel the world, since Google has traditionally unveiled the new features locally before rolling them out further.
„Nobody could possibly begin to understand how upset I am,“ about the app not being available in Chicago, wrote Catland Bukater on Twitter.
nobody could possibly begin to understand how upset i am that the google arts and culture portrait selfie feature is not yet available in my region.
