UK Art crafts smart phone app

By Garrett Bonistalli

Public art in central Kentucky can now relate to the smart phone’s favorite phrase, “there’s an app for that.”

The central Kentucky Museum’s without Walls Project, a venture designed to promote public interaction in public art, has released a smart phone application to further its cause. The project’s founders are Lisa Broome-Price, associate director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities, UK graduate Allison Hosale (MA Art History) and Christine Huskisson, adjunct faculty – Department of art, museum studies.

The application, titled “Take it Artside!,” is the co-creation of the Gaines Center for the Humanities, the UK Department of Art – Including art and Honors Program students – collaborating on significant parts of it. Georgetown College students also contributed.

“Our goal is to increase awareness about public art in the community and to provide some educational tools, such as maps, lesson plans and games which encourage people to interact with the public art that’s around them,” Broome-Price said.

The functions of the application include viewing Google maps in which public art works throughout Central Kentucky are signified by pins, searching for particular works, retrieving photographs of and information about art works, according to the Central Kentucky Museum without Walls website.

“The primary purpose [of the application] is to merge the various public art efforts in central Kentucky by creating an educational tool to facilitate every one of them,” Huskisson said.

The application’s game, titled “check in,” allows players to accumulate points by stopping and visiting pieces of art. As the players accumulate points, they progress.

“We’re hoping that the game can bring people closer to the art and make them aware of it,” Broome-Price said.

Development of the application took about six months and was aspired from the Fairmount Park Art Association’s application in Philadelphia and “culture now,” which is a public art and architecture application in New York City, said Hosale.

“Artside!”launched Nov. 30 and can be downloaded on itunes through the iphone, ipad and itouch.  Applications for android are due to release in the near future. The application is free of charge.