Bringing new meaning to the term "art lover," Atlanta's High Museum of Art has introduced a Tinder-esque online tool to match visitors with works based on likes.
Dubbed Heartmatch, the web-based feature presents a series of objects—paintings, sculptures, installations, and whatsits—from the museum's massive collection, and, just as in dating apps, users can indicate their preferences by swiping right on images they like or left on ones they don't.
You don't have to download or log in to an app, but the site looks a lot like one, especially in the mobile version for smartphones.
(Courtesy High Museum of Art)
After you've finished swiping as few as 7 images or as many as 100, the tool provides a map showing where your picks can be found in the museum so that you can lay eyes on them in person.
At the moment, Heartmatch only points you to the stuff you swipe right on. As Smithsonian magazine points out, a good idea for future upgrades would be to include recommendations for other works based on what you like—something similar to the suggestions Amazon and Netflix provide.
In an article written for the American Alliance of Museums, officials who helped develop Heartmatch say that its threefold purpose is to show off the range of the museum's holdings, assist visitors in finding worthwhile pieces, and collect data on which works are the most popular in order to use faves in marketing materials and underappreciated art in outreach programs designed to "turn 'swipe lefts' into 'swipe rights.'”
You can try out Heartmatch now. It's fun—as making snap judgments often is—and might broaden your horizons by introducing you to art created not just by stars such as Monet, O'Keeffe, and Basquiat, but also less-vaunted greats like Nellie Mae Rowe, Kehinde Wiley, and Jaime Hayon.
