ARTETIK

ARTETIK uses visitors’ emotional responses as a route through the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao collection. Instead of starting with an artist or a period, you can follow a feeling and find the works people connected with it. The useful question is less “What style is this?” and more “What does this do to me?”

What is ARTETIK?

The museum and Google Arts & Culture brought ARTETIK from a gallery installation to the web in November 2023. Its collection explorer draws connections between artworks using reactions contributed by museum visitors. That gives a personal response a second job: helping someone else find their next work to look at. The online project also introduces explanations of its emotion categories, making the labels something to consider rather than merely click past. The landing credits artists Bastien Girschig and Jack Wild alongside Guggenheim Bilbao. Its combination of art and shared responses offers a different way to navigate one museum’s holdings without needing to arrive with a favorite artist already in mind.

What you can do there

• Explore artworks through emotions visitors associated with them
• Compare responses to museum artworks

Why we picked it

An emotion can connect works that would sit far apart in a conventional catalog. That makes ARTETIK a useful prompt for slower looking: follow curiosity, then decide whether a picture actually produces the feeling its neighbors suggest.

How to get the most from it

Begin with a feeling you can describe in your own words. Look closely at a related artwork before reading more about it, then compare your response with the reactions represented in the collection. Try a second emotion to change the direction of your visit.

Good to know

The map reflects responses from participants; agreement is optional. A popular reaction does not prescribe your own, and an emotion label does not explain every aspect of a work. The museum installation dates to 2022, while the online expansion was announced in 2023.

Who made it, and when?

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Google Arts & Culture is the credited creator or organization. The earliest supported launch date we found is November 21, 2023.