ArtLens App
Turn your smartphone into a pocket guide to the CMA with ArtLens App. Use it as a companion within the museum or as a way to explore and create from home. The app is a resource before, during, and after a visit to the museum or for anywhere you are. Download before arriving, plan your visit, and create or browse tours. While visiting, use the interactive map as a guide to navigate the museum, and keep track of your favorite artworks. After your visit, explore even more of the CMA, including the Open Access collection.
ArtLens App is available for FREE to download to iOS 14 or higher and to Android devices (5.1+).
From Home
See all that ArtLens App has to offer, while teaching, working, or relaxing at home. Create and share tours, browse through all artworks on view, see the CMA’s highlights, and keep track of your favorite artworks.
Search: Search the collection by artist name, artwork title, and accession number to discover works on view in the museum.
Must CMA: See some of the CMA’s best, including “Recent Acquisitions,” “Open Access Highlights,” and “Top 50 Visitor Favorites.” Explore the galleries from anywhere, inside the museum or out.
Tours: Browse, create, and share tours from anywhere. Explore the CMA’s highlights with guided audio tours in the “Featured Tours” section.
You: Keep track of favorites while exploring the app.
Create a Tour
- Choose artworks you would like on your tour by selecting the “heart” icon on any artwork page in ArtLens App. Use the search feature to easily find specific artworks or search with keywords.
- Select “You” in the app, press “Select” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and choose the works of art you would like to include in the tour by tapping them. Selected artworks will appear with a blue frame around them.
- When you are finished selecting artworks, press “Create a Tour” in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
- Name your tour and add a description. We encourage you to be creative!
- Your tour will automatically save to “You.”
- In or out of the museum, your tour will automatically upload to “Visitor-Created” tours, with the most recently created tours listed first.
Before You Arrive
Download the app and explore its features. For the best experience using the app, be sure to enable the following settings:
- Allow Location
- Enable Bluetooth
- Enable Photo Saving
- Once you’re inside the CMA, connect to the ARTLENS Wi-Fi network.
At the Museum
The Galleries feature is your map to the CMA. Connect to the ARTLENS Wi-Fi network to use the wayfinding feature, Find Me, which will find your exact location in the museum at any time.
- Map: Galleries are color coded and grouped thematically to facilitate easier navigation. Tap any gallery number to see a gallery description and all artworks in that gallery.
- Find Me: When connected to Wi-Fi, push the “Find Me” button at any time to find your exact location in the museum, then search an artwork and tap the gallery number to find the exact gallery location you are looking for.
- You: Keep track of your favorite artworks by tapping the “heart” icon on an artwork in the app. All favorites are saved under “You.” Favorites can be used to create personalized tours, find specific artworks in the museum, or share on social media.
- Featured Tours: Find the CMA’s “Featured Tours” in the Tours section, and take guided audio tours led by curators. Navigate to museum highlights and explore featured artworks.
Additional Features
- Scan: Using innovative image-recognition software, ArtLens App seamlessly recognizes a selection of 2-D and 3-D artworks and provides additional curatorial and interpretive content. If an artwork is scannable, the scan icon will appear next to the artwork in the gallery and a “Scan this artwork” banner will appear on the artwork’s page in the app. To scan an artwork, select the scan icon in the upper-right corner on an artwork’s page and aim your device so the camera captures the entire work of art. After ArtLens App has recognized the artwork, you can lower your device and peruse all additional interpretative multimedia content. Click on important symbols highlighted on your screen to learn more. Each month, additional artworks are made scannable, so there is always more to explore and learn.
- Content: The app includes every artwork in the CMA’s collection that is on view and more than 1,500 videos available for selected artworks. Bring headphones or earbuds to enjoy these videos during your visit. New content is generated on an ongoing basis. Changes to any object on view are dynamically and immediately updated from the back end systems across the app and throughout the museum.
- Tours: Take a tour curated by CMA staff and community members, or create your own.
- Nearby Artworks: These are visitor-favorite and featured artworks.
- Gallery List: Under Galleries, pull up the Gallery List to explore each gallery by subject and locate the restrooms, elevators, and exits on each floor.
During the museum’s open hours, an ARTLENS Gallery technician is available to provide technical assitance. Additionally, help is available by emailing artlens@clevelandart.org.
After Your Visit
Keep exploring the CMA’s collection, even after leaving. Build a tour from your “favorited” artworks, so you can see them from anywhere. Dive deeper into the CMA’s Open Access collection and get creative. Share, collaborate, and remix images in any way you like.
Search: Browse through the CMA’s collection, searching by artist name, artwork title, and accession number to discover works on view in the museum.
Open Access: Open Access artworks are those in the CMA’s collection that are considered public domain, meaning that anyone can share, collaborate, remix, and reuse images of them. Explore them in the app by selecting “Must CMA," and then “Open Access Highlights.” Alternatively, take the app’s “Open Access Highlights” tour by selecting it from the Tours list.
How Does it Work?
ArtLens App contains interpretive content for every work of art on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Real-time updates ensure that users have access to the most accurate information available. The app is compatible with screen readers such as VoiceOver on iOS and Select to Speak and TalkBack on Android. Enable the service through your device’s settings, then follow the screen reader’s instructions to navigate through the app and to read information on all artwork pages.
The new version of the international, award-winning ArtLens App combines the most current technology and innovative design with a wealth of interpretive content for every work of art on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The app’s redesigned interface is clean and intuitive, and the wayfinding map is more responsive, using 240+ iBeacons throughout every gallery in the museum to improve accuracy and eliminate the need for paper maps. ArtLens App uses Bluetooth technology to connect to the museum’s iconic ArtLens Wall and all ArtLens Exhibition interactives. All artworks “favorited” at the ArtLens Wall or explored in ArtLens Exhibition game play save seamlessly to the “You” section of the app. Photos taken during ArtLens Exhibition game play save directly to a device’s camera roll. ArtLens App enhances the visitor’s museum experience by providing the option to design individual tours, offering tools to better understand artworks through augmented reality, and guiding users with interactive real-time maps. ArtLens App may be used on-site or from anywhere in the world.
The CMA established a standardized, well-documented development environment, including a master application programming interface (API) used for integrating all artwork, artist/creator, and location information; a common framework for defining and testing the content structure and staff workbenches needed to manage both existing and new interactives; a consolidated content delivery network platform for digital assets for all interactives (in ArtLens App, exhibitions, Collection Online, or any future interactive) for ease of management and troubleshooting; and a single method for connecting interactives to user devices for favorites and for saving user-generated content. The CMA’s custom-built catalogue-management system pulls live content, writes it once, and then updates it everywhere, making any artwork information or interpretive content updated by the curatorial, collections management, or interpretation staff immediately accessible in all digital interactives.
Copyright Restrictions
Reproduction, including downloading, of works by Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Carlo Bugatti, Salvador Dalí, Andre Derain, Otto Dix, Lee Krasner, Rene Lalique, Suzanne Lalique, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Loupot, René Magritte, Reginald Marsh, Henri Matisse, Barnett Newman, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Marc Rothko, Kay Sage, Yves Tanguy, Édouard Vuillard, Andy Warhol, and Wilfred Zogbaum is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s free award-winning ArtLens app is made possible through the generous support of the Swagelok Company, a global leader in fluid systems manufacturing and technology headquartered in Solon, OH.
