Google To Help Turn Bits Into Beaux Arts With New DevArt Project

Google is launching a broad new effort to support the arts, in a way particularly appropriate to its role and business, with a project called DevArt that highlights modern artists using technology in general, and code in particular, to create their work.

The project will kick-off as an exhibit in The Barbican performing arts center in London, complete with four separate art installations. To prepare for that, Google is calling for developers to fill one of those spots to exhibit alongside three featured artists who’ve already been chosen to show their stuff, and who are featured in the videos below.

Zach Lieberman

Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet

Karsten Schmidt

Google commissioned the artists to create brand new interactive installations for the inaugural show, using Google APIs, as well as its web products and services. Some of the technologies involve include Kinect, Unity, WebGl, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Google+, Maps, Twitter and YouTube to name just a few. Those chosen by Google to participate are going to be maintaining an ongoing log of their progress with the exhibits, via Project Pages run by each artist.

If you think you’ve got the coding skills to be the next Hacktisse (that’s terrible but it’s the best I can do) then you can enter to be the fourth exhibitor at this summer’s exhibition via Google’s DevArt website. Submissions are tracked via GitHub, and entries must be submitted by March 28 to be considered, with the winner revealed April 15, 2014.