Art of the future: Sberbank talked about the digitalization of the Pushkin Museum

At the opening of the exhibition “Rouen Cathedrals”. Study of paintings by Claude Monet from the collection of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin” President and Chairman of the Board of Sberbank German Gref and Director of the Pushkin Museum Elizaveta Likhacheva signed a cooperation agreement.

The company’s press service explained that it is dedicated to the bank and museum’s plans to digitize collections and create new tools for distributing art.

Digital duplicate of the museum

The agreement implies that the lending institution and partners will assist the museum in developing new methods of distributing art, as well as ways to preserve museum collections. Thanks to the interaction, a digital interactive copy of the museum will be created, in addition, specialists will develop excursion projects in augmented reality mode.

“Firstly, any technology requires inspiration, and where can one get it if not in culture and art. Secondly, art needs to be brought to as many people as possible, especially young people. And for this we need the most modern technologies. We hope to make art, wonderful collections and the ability of the Pushkin Museum specialists to collect the most unique exhibitions available to the maximum number of people in our country. Remove barriers so that art is accessible to millions,” said German Gref.

Artificial intelligence popularizes art

The bank and the museum will use machine learning and other artificial intelligence technologies to popularize art and science, the company said.

Another result of the cooperation will be the popularization of the use of digital technologies in the work of cultural institutions. The agreement plans to develop a roadmap for the implementation of specific areas of cooperation between the bank and the museum.

“For any museum, modern technologies provide incredible opportunities: digitization of the collection, use of colossal databases, the emergence of previously unknown methods and tools for scientific work and educational projects. The emergence of more and more new opportunities is happening right “here and now” as AI technologies develop. One of the most important goals of our work is the digitization of the collection. This is, in fact, a huge task that no museum in the world has been able to cope with. And we hope, with the help of Sberbank, to digitize the collection completely,” said Elizaveta Likhacheva, director of the Pushkin Museum.

She noted that one of the most important tasks in the work of a modern museum is to find a language of communication with a young audience that has grown up in the world of digital technologies.

“Today art is becoming the subject of collaboration with technology, the so-called digital art. This gives new interpretations and new ideas about historical museums and very famous paintings, and helps to restore lost things using digital technologies. This is also an opportunity to reach the younger generation. Young people don’t always go to a museum, so the museum should come to them. And this is also one of the areas of our cooperation. We must go where our clients, our children, and the future generation are,” summed up Sber CEO German Gref.