Google Redesigns Arts & Culture App Around Questions, Images and Daily Discovery

Google’s refreshed Arts & Culture app invites people to ask about a work, browse a cultural story or chat with a historical artist. Those are different kinds of encounters: search pairs answers with visuals and curated material from partner archives, while the artist conversations are simulations. The redesigned app began rolling out globally on September 28.

Ask a question, see the collection

The new conversational search accepts questions in a visitor’s own words. Google says its answers combine explanations, images and curated stories from partner archives. Someone could ask about an art technique, look for museums in a city or search for a subject across artworks, rather than starting with a particular collection.

That question-led approach offers an entry point into a large collection. Google says Arts & Culture has worked with more than 3,000 cultural institutions and artists in over 90 countries. The app includes high-resolution artworks and 3D artifacts, alongside material on subjects such as fashion, performance, science and natural history. A visitor does not need to know which partner holds something before asking about it.

A feed and two different experiments

Not every visit has to begin with a question. The new homepage brings short cultural stories, daily highlights and access to interactive features into one feed. It gives someone with no particular subject in mind a way to start browsing, while search serves people who already have a question.

Two AI experiments sit alongside that feed. Chrono Look lets visitors virtually try on historical clothing from different eras, using sketches and realistic renderings. Dial-an-Artist offers simulated conversations with historical artists about their work. Both invite participation, but they do it differently: one puts a visitor into a visual rendering; the other lets them explore through dialogue.

The distinction is worth keeping in view. Search is presented as a route to explanations and curated partner stories; Dial-an-Artist is presented as a simulated exchange. A reply in that conversation should not be mistaken for words the historical artist actually spoke. Google describes both as ways to explore culture, not as the same kind of source.

27New destinations

Google says the expanded City Guide adds 27 destinations featuring local cultural landmarks and real-time cultural events.

Taking discovery into a city

The City Guide extends the redesign beyond browsing an archive. Its newly added destinations bring together landmarks and current events, giving visitors a way to look for culture in a place rather than through an artwork or topic. That is a different starting point from either conversational search or the homepage feed: location, not a question or a suggested story, leads the visit.

The updated app is rolling out globally through Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Google’s announcement describes what each route is meant to offer; the useful choice for a visitor is where to begin. Ask when a subject has caught your interest, open the feed when it has not, or use the guide when the place itself is the point.