ArtSwipe: Fun for All Ages

ArtSwipe is delightfully simple but that does not diminish its brilliance or how much fun it is to play.  The app was developed by artist Jody Zellen and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibit In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States on view during the spring of 2012.

The surrealists of the 20th century are credited with devising the game "exquisite corpse" on which ArtSwipe is based. I believe the idea has been around for a long time as a parlor game or just a kids game. There have certainly been kids books that consisted of multi-part pages that could be flipped independently to create unique and random images.  However, the surrealists get credit and Man Ray, Joan Miro and Max Ernst have collaborative works in such institutions as The Art Institute of Chicago which cements their claim as creators.

I love how humorous these combinations can be.

 My Art Swipe samples above probably provide all the information you need to understand how ArtSwipe works.  A random series of images from LACMA's collection and the surrealist exhibit are arranged sliced into horizontal thirds.  The images are swiped to either the left or right to reveal another image.  The viewer has the opportunity to add more images from a select group of LACMA's collection (in the public domain), the iPad's camera roll or from images taken with the camera.  (I was not able to access my camera roll but did add images with the camera.)

When you have a keeper, you can save it to your photo gallery or share on Facebook,Twitter or email.  I am working on a series of collages and want to play around with incorporating some of my ArtSwipes into that work.  

Why do I like this activity so much?  The app designer and LACMA did an excellent job of putting together a collection of images that have great potential for combining.  Most of the artwork is figurative including sculpted heads and masks. More importantly it is a wonderful selection of work from very diverse cultures over a very wide time span. In the Images view from the menu, you see all of the images as complete artworks in a grid.  A tap enlarges the selected work and provides detailed information about artist (if available), culture, dates and size, etc.

Why is this more important than just a fun way to pass time?  
I am preparing to teach a new class at Lynchburg College.  It is Art 110, the general education class taken by many students to satisfy their arts requirement.  A new course means a lot more work, but I am particularly excited about this one because it gives me the opportunity to introduce students to the great artworks from around the world and throughout time that have given me such pleasure in my life.  Not only pleasure, but a passport to learn about world history and world cultures. Not only history and culture but our shared humanity.  That is the great gift of art...a way to share our experience as human beings.  ArtSwipe does this and in a way that is as engaging for a 3 year old as a senior citizen.