EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
5G technologies and art
Verizon is partnering with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to launch “The Met Unframed”, a tool that relies on augmented reality (AR) and 5G technologies to bring the Met’s collection to would-be visitors around the world.
Verizon’s CEO, Hans Vestberg, announced the company’s partnership with the Met at The Consumer Electronics Show, on Monday.
Will it work on both 4G and 5G devices?
Yes, The Met Unframed experience will work on both 4G and 5G devices. However, 5G devices usage will enable visitors to try out special features on the tool. Says Verizon’s CEO, bringing art to life in such a hyper-real way is “not possible without 5G”.
The Met Unframed: Sculpture, paintings, quizzes, challenges
The Met Unframed offers virtual visitors access to digitally rendered galleries and nearly 50 individual art pieces from the Met’s collection. These pieces include works by contemporary artists like El Anatusi, Sam Gilliam and Carmen Herrara. They also include statues within in the museum’s Egyptian Wing (such as the Temple of Dendur), Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Cypresses and Rembrandt van Rijn’s Self Portrait.
Beyond that, within The Met Unframed tool, individuals can take fun trivia quizzes, unravel riddles and partake in a “Zoom and Spot” challenge, which encourages the close observation of artworks and offers historical context for the pieces.
5G technologies, innovation, art and people
The virtual experience will be available via smartphone for the next month. “Our mission since The Met’s founding 150 years ago has been to connect people to art and ideas, and to one another — something we’ve found to be more powerful than ever over these last months of isolation and uncertainty,” says Met director Max Hollein.
“The Met Unframed expands the ways in which we can understand, experience and appreciate art.” The virtual exhibit also makes the Met’s art collection more accessible to individuals across geographic boundaries.
Example of how augmented reality can bring a Rembrandt self-portrait into a person’s home:
Image courtesy of Ben Davis, news.artnet.com.
How else will 5G technologies evolve business initiatives in 2021?
The US National Football League (NFL) is working to make 5G available at 28 NFL stadiums by the end of 2021. The goal is to enable fans to view a game from any of seven different angles at any given moment.
The United States Parcel Service (UPS) also working to leverage the benefits of 5G technologies. The partnership will focus on the use of 5G for drone-based retail deliveries.
“We will need the ability to manage and support multiple drones, flying simultaneously, dispatched from a centralized location, operating in a secure and safe environment. To do this at scale…we will need the power of 5G,” says UPS CEO, Carol Tome.
For more on the future of 5G tech, visit Reuters. For more on the Met’s use of augmented reality and 5G technologies, check out CNN Business.
