Experience artwork of Georgian painters through digital app

Art enthusiasts can now interact with their favourite works from some of Georgia’s most famous painters using a new digital application found at the National Gallery in Tbilisi.

Works by primitivist self-taught creative Niko Pirosmani, avant-garde artist David Kakabadze and painter Lado Gudiashvili have been viewed by numerous visitors of the gallery over the years.

Now viewers can take a new angle on the classic works such as Pirosmani’s The Fisherman, and even modify their appearance through hand-held devices.

Launched on Tuesday, the augmented reality application is a product of a student startup at Georgia’s Business and Technology University.

Co-founded by Rezi Parulava and Merab Laliashvili, the AReal software was a winner of the university’s Demo Day contest.

Now the application has been installed in tablet devices found at the National Gallery — one of the most-visited venue of the Georgian National Museum network.

It features information on around 50 works by the three artists well-known throughout Georgia’s creative scene in the past century, preserved at the museum.

Visitors try the app at the launch event at the National Gallery. Photo: Georgian National Museum.

Beside text-based and audio information on the artwork, the software also enables users to manipulate some of the paintings digitally by actions such as changing colour for parts of paintings.

Project organisers said they aspired to integrate augmented reality — the technology altering perception of real environment through digitally-generated information — with cultural heritage.

The AReal application is expected to be made available at other GNM exhibitions and for works by more artists in the future.