Montreal’s Street Art joins the Google Art Project
Rain, wind and Canadian winters - just a few of the reasons why street art remains such an ephemeral part of Montreal’s urban culture. But now some of those splashes of whimsy and colour that bring life to the city’s public spaces have been preserved and are on display for the entire world.
Last year we added street art to the Google Art Project in order to help conserve this art form and tell the story of street art around the world. Today, we are more than doubling the number of artworks from 34 countries sharing 10,000 high resolution images of artworks.
MONTREAL
We partnered with 86 art organizations from around the globe and, here in Canada, we worked with MU and the MURAL Festival, two organizations dedicated to supporting Montreal’s vibrant street art scene.
MU Over the past seven years MU has produced 70 large-scale murals in 15 neighbourhoods of Montreal. MU’s projects are designed to promote the democratization of art and local development.
MURAL Festival MURAL festival is a free art festival based in Montreal, which aims to celebrate the creativity and democratize urban art. MURAL aims to bring together artistic activities that are linked with urban art.
Kashink - Mural Festival 2014 - panorama
Seth - Mural Festival 2014 - panorama
GLOBAL
From stencil to sculpture installations and mosaic via collage, a great variety of styles from around the world are now represented on the Google Art platform. Ready for an urban safari around the world? Hit the streets in Street View and listen to the stories behind the art: travel from Sweden’s most famous street festival to New York city’s rooftops where you will discover Water Tanks wrapped with art, and follow an expert through Buenos Aires’ blooming urban art neighbourhoods.
Want to know more about local street art scenes, places and practitioners? We’ve put 260 digital exhibits online for you to explore and a dozen immersive street view visits! For example you can now take a virtual tour of London’s trendy East End, home to some the world’s finest artworks, enjoy the colourful murals of Los Angeles’ Winston Street aka Indian Alley, learn more about the longest open air gallery in the world in Berlin and see how street artists can get inspired by 17th and 18th century paintings.
When the web and street art meet, the walls can come to life: discover the mesmerizing work of artists like INSA or Checko who painted, photographed, re-painted and then re-photographed a wall to create animated street art: the so-called GIF-iti.
Bringing street art into our daily lives You can now enjoy these fantastic collections in your daily life - at home, at work, on the go - as we introduce street art to Chrome, Chromecast and Android Wear. Turn your TV screen into a vibrant backdrop of street artworks, or discover a new artwork every time you open a browser tab in Chrome with the new Google Art Project Chrome extension. On your phone or tablet, browse through our partners' new apps, and follow them on a tour of Melbourne's famous laneways, take you on an art safari in Lisbon, and share a glimpse of the multicoloured murals that are covering Delhi, Lima and Honolulu. Finally, turn your smartwatch into a colourful artwork with our new Street Art Watch Faces!
From the streets of Montreal to cityscapes around the world, there’s so much more to discover. Head over to the Google Cultural Institute and dive into this vibrant and colourful world.
