Detroit Institute of Arts

How does a museum stay meaningful when no one can leave their house?

Digital art featuring an art hunt game with a smartphone surrounded by two art challenge cards, set against a classical painting background.

  • When COVID hit, our favorite cultural institutions closed their doors. But that didn’t mean they were inaccessible.

    Collaborating with the Detroit Institute of Arts, we came up with a number of ways for people to interact with the DIA’s collection and artists. We also came up with an “emoji scavenger hunt” and other challenges that drove people searching in the DIA’s digital archive. 

    We also curated Spotify playlists of music that surrounded and influenced Van Gogh, Warhol and and other famous artists on display at the DIA.

Emoji of a yellow square and a man's face with dark skin, curly hair, and mustache on a blue background. The text '#ATHOMEDIA' at the bottom.
A person holding a smartphone displaying a yellow-toned portrait of a man in a turtleneck, painted in an expressive style, on an Instagram post.
A figure with a hot dog head and human legs stands against a dark background, with four digital screens or cards displayed in front of it. The screens show the DILA collection Art Hunt, with instructions and questions related to art and hot dogs.
Array of 7 art images and a central card with text. The art images include a black and white photo of a dog on a leash, a photograph of a woman, a portrait of a man riding a lion, a traditional painting of figures with a lion, a scene of people in a boat, an illustration of a mythological scene, and a landscape with a horse. The central card reads 'Challenge: Animals' and 'Today's Art Hunt' with the hashtag #ATHOMEDIA.
Various landscape and nature-themed artworks, including a snow scene, a portrait of a woman under a tree, a mountain landscape, a floral painting, a watercolor of hummingbirds, and an abstract landscape, all arranged around a central card with the text 'Challenge: Nature' and hashtag #ATHOMEDIA.
A smartphone with a challenge prompt overlay on a background of a classic painting depicting nude figures outdoors. The challenge is called 'Challenge: Green' and instructs to swipe up to search for green artwork, screenshot the artwork, and share it with a tag.
A sky with fluffy clouds and a rainbow.
Series of five mobile phone screens displaying an art challenge series on social media, with titles and artwork featured in various colors and styles.
Three digital art playlist covers overlap each other. The middle cover features a portrait of Vincent Van Gogh wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, set against a textured background. The left cover has an abstract portrait of Andy Warhol, and the right cover depicts a scene of workers in a factory with industrial equipment. All covers display the text 'ARTIST PLAYLIST' at the top and 'DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS' at the bottom.
Screenshot of a Spotify playlist page titled 'Andy Warhol' featuring classical music tracks with a dark background and colorful abstract wall in the background.