Digital experiments
Come play with us!
»Art Hunters«
The lost Beckmann
Immerse yourself online
In our VR experience, Art Hunters, you have 20 minutes to prove that the Staatsgalerie legally possesses Max Beckmann's "Self-Portrait with Red Scarf". But why does it need to be proven? What does it have to do with German history? And how can ownership of a painting be proven? Our virtual archivist is waiting for you in the depot to answer all your questions and help you find the solution.
Play “Art Hunters” online right here!
»K_AI«
Your favourite art
Use artificial intelligence to find your favourites
Are you looking for abstract or concrete art? Or perhaps you prefer a particular colour, such as green or blue? Not sure where to find the art you like in our large collection? 'K_AI' is here to help. You can choose to either answer questions or view a selection of comparative pairs. Once you have provided your answers and selection, it will start linking the neural networks of artificial intelligence with our digital collection. Et voilà – you get your favourite art!
Immerse yourself online
"K_AI" helps you to find your favourite work online!
More about the digital experiments
Can art-historical research also be fun?
In 2018, the ARTIFICATION project at the Staatsgalerie began exploring this question. In collaboration with the Hochschule der Medien and the FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik, the project developed ideas for interactive digital art and research projects that can be enjoyed online from home. ARTIFICATION is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts as part of "Digitale Wege ins Museum II".
»Art Hunters – The lost Beckmann«
A VR experience for provenance research
The story of the VR experience about the lost Beckmann is fictional. However, it is based on real research into provenance. But what is provenance research? Provenance means origin, and provenance research in museums deals with the origin of works of art. The research primarily concerns works of art created before 1945 that entered our collection after 1933.
We systematically check whether our collection contains 'Nazi-confiscated cultural property'. This refers to objects that were confiscated from their rightful owners during the National Socialist era (1933–1945), or that were sold by them under duress. Regarding such works, museums have committed to finding just and fair solutions with the heirs.
Five questions for the developers
The TimeLeapVR team developed the virtual reality game »Art Hunters – The lost Beckmann« for our museum. Who is behind the Art Hunters development team?
Above all, the team is driven by creative passion, team spirit and a willingness to embrace new ideas, both for ourselves and for our museum customers. Since 2017, Carolin Wedler, Julian Hölgert and Michael Gödde have been creating virtual art experiences alongside a great team of programmers, artists and designers. We all come from different backgrounds, ranging from marketing and communication to digital production and academic computer game research. However, we are united by the same goal: to develop innovative, participatory VR experiences with museums!
»Art Hunters – The lost Beckmann« is a game about provenance research in museums. Were you familiar with provenance research before the game was developed?
We went into the project prepared, of course, and were generally familiar with provenance research, but our work with the Staatsgalerie taught us an incredible amount about the topic. Our team gained unique insights into the detective work involved in researching confiscated 'degenerate' art. You don't get to see all these historical documents lying on the table every day!
Users have 20 minutes to prove that the Max Beckmann artwork is legally owned by the Staatsgalerie. How did you develop the story and how did you manage to make the storytelling exciting?
Engaging with a new subject during the conceptualisation stage offers the advantage of approaching it with a fresh perspective and posing the same questions that visitors will ask. This enables you to identify the most interesting facts and present them in an engaging narrative. The great teamwork and good communication between the Staatsgalerie and ourselves should be emphasised – this is always immensely important for projects of this nature.
What challenges did you face?
The amount of material – documents, files, pictures – on the subject of Nazi art and its confiscations takes on incredible proportions. Striking a fine balance between informative content and fun is always the challenge. You have to make decisions, concentrate on concise content, even if you would prefer to show everything. After all, the goal of an exciting experience is first and foremost to create an incentive for further engagement with the subject. The Staatsgalerie's task to us was to prepare the not so easy topic especially for teenagers and young people and to gain their interest via this relatively new communication channel Virtual Reality. Here, the museum visitor is always at the centre of our so-called Experiences.
"K_AI" – the artificial intelligence
An AI application for our Digital collection
Our collection includes works of art from painting to sculpture to media art from the Middle Ages to the present. The works on display in the 12.000 qm exhibition space are only a selection of the collection. The online Digital Collection aims to make the entire collection of works publicly accessible. This has been years of work, in which we are continuously researching and digitising the artworks. "K_AI" is an experiment on the question of how we can use our large research stock of data in such a way that it also offers added value for visitors.
In Cooperation with
Funded by
