Analema Group's KIMA: Colour in 360 Transforms National Gallery Paintings into Immersive Digital Experience

The London-based collective Analema Group, comprising artist and poet Evgenia Emets, sound design specialist Alain Renaud, and artist Oliver Mag Gingrich, created KIMA: Colour in 360, a multisensory project for National Gallery X (NGX). NGX is a program launched in September 2019 with support from Google Arts and Culture, exploring how new technologies will transform cultural experiences. KIMA extracts sound and visual impressions from three iconic paintings in the National Gallery's collection: Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, Claude Monet's Water Lilies at Sunset, and Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Field with Cypresses. The group collaborated with algorithm and data experts from King's College London and National Gallery curators. They conducted an interdisciplinary analysis of the artworks through a scientific lens, then transformed the data into light and sound signals. The term "Kima" comes from Greek meaning "wave." Ali Hossaini, co-director of NGX, noted that the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the need for digital engagement, as the National Gallery had to bring its collection into people's homes. He stated that Analema offered a boundless opportunity to meditate on the essence of painting. The result is a 360-degree video available on YouTube, optimized for viewing on a smartphone with headphones, allowing users to explore by moving their device.