By Paul Kinlan, Staff Developer Advocate and tinkerer

Good News Everybody! DevArt has officially opened at the Barbican’s Digital Revolution Exhibition, the biggest exploration of digital creativity ever staged in the UK.


Technology has long gone hand in hand with art and with DevArt we’re showcasing the developers who use technology as their canvas and code as their raw material to create innovative, interactive digital art installations. Karsten Schmidt, Zach Lieberman, and duo Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet, have been commissioned by Google and the Barbican for Digital Revolution. Alongside these three commissions, a fourth - Cyril Diagne and Beatrice Lartigue - were handpicked as a result of DevArt’s global initiative to discover the interactive artists of tomorrow. You can also see their incredible art online and through our exhibition launch film here:


Play the World, 2014. Zach Lieberman [View on Github]
Using Google Compute Engine, Google Maps Geolocation API and openFrameworks, Zach has been able to find musical notes from hundreds of live radio stations around the world, resulting in a unique geo-orientated piece of music every time a visitor plays the piano at the centre of the piece.


Image by Andrew Meredith

Wishing Wall, 2014, Varvara Guljajeva & Mar Canet [View on Github]
Taking advantage of Google Compute Engine, Web Speech API, Chrome Apps, openFrameworks and node.js, Varvara and Mar are able to capture a whispered wish, and let you watch it transform before your eyes, allowing you to reach out and let it land on your hand.

Image by Andrew Meredith

Co(de) Factory, 2014, Karsten Schmidt [View on Github]
Android, Google Cloud Platform, Google Closure Compiler, WebGL, WebSockets, and YouTube have been combined by Karsten to allow anybody to create art and become an artist. It empowers people by giving them the tools to create, and offers them the chance to have their digital piece fabricated in 3D and showcased in the exhibition.

Image by Andrew Meredith
Les Métamorphoses de Mr. Kalia, 2014, Béatrice Lartigue and Cyril Diagne [View on Github]
Android, Chrome Apps, Google App Engine, node.js, openFrameworks have enabled Béatrice and Cyril to create tracking technology that transforms movement into a visual performance where visitors take on the persona of Mr. Kalia, a larger-than-life animated character, that undergoes a series of surreal changes while following your every movement.

Image by Andrew Meredith
DevArt will tour the world with the Digital Revolution Exhibition for up to five years following the Barbican show in London.

Soon we’re also starting our DevArt Young Creators program — an education component of DevArt designed to inspire a new generation of coders — each led by the DevArt interactive artists. Developed alongside the UK’s new computing curriculum, the workshops have been designed especially for students aged 9-13 years who have never tried coding before. Each workshop will be developed into lesson plans in-line with the UK’s new national computing curriculum, and distributed to educators by arts and technology organisations.

Paul Kinlan is a Developer Advocate in the UK on the Chrome team specialising on mobile. He lives in Liverpool and loves trying to progress the city's tech community from places like DoES Liverpool hack-space.

Posted by Louis Gray, Googler

By Emma Turpin, DevArt Lead at Google Creative Lab and Paul Kinlan, Developer Advocate

Mapping a dream as it navigates through your brain using G+APIs. Exploring metamorphosis through storytelling in the form of a poetic adventure with Chrome Apps and Compute API. Travelling through a playful giant map that explores fantasy and reality on a huge scale using Map API. Creating music through the touch of your finger on a simple piece of wood using Android.

These are just a sample of the hundreds of projects we received after inviting the developer community to express themselves creatively as part of DevArt. We were looking for a unique idea which mixes art and code and pushes the boundaries, to be featured in the Barbican's Digital Revolution exhibition, opening this summer in London and from there touring the rest of the world.

And the winner is … a duo Cyril Diagne & Béatrice Lartigue from France. Cyril and Beatrice’s project, Les métamorphoses de Mr. Kalia, is an interactive poetic adventure around the theme of metamorphosis in the human body. It invites gallery visitors to personify Mr. Kalia as he goes through many surrealistic changes [video] [project page on DevArt site]. The piece conveys feelings related to change, evolution and adaptation. Mr. Kalia is brought to life through the use of a skeleton tracking technology, and uses Chrome apps and Google Compute Engine.


Cyril and Béatrice’s installation will sit alongside three of the world’s finest interactive artists who are also creating installations for DevArt: Karsten Schmidt, Zach Lieberman, and the duo Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet. The Digital Revolution Exhibition will be opening in London on 3 July with tickets available online here.

We were overwhelmed by all of the amazing ideas we saw, a testament to the creativity that’s possible with code. Watch this space - DevArt at the Digital Revolution exhibition at the Barbican opens in July!

Paul Kinlan is a Developer Advocate in the UK on the Chrome team specialising on mobile. He lives in Liverpool and loves trying to progress the city's tech community from places like DoES Liverpool hack-space.


Posted by Louis Gray, Googler

By Paul Kinlan, Developer Advocate and aspiring Creative Coder

I sometimes hear phrases like “Artists create, developers code”, but nothing could be further from the truth. We are all a creative bunch with a passion for exploring and creating amazing works that push the boundaries of what we believe is possible with modern computing technology. Sometimes we just need some inspiration and an outlet.

This summer, Google are teaming up with the Barbican in London to celebrate the creative use of technology with a DevArt interactive gallery, as part of the Digital Revolution exhibition. And we want you to be a part of it.



As part of this exhibition, we’re looking for the next up-and-coming developer artist. This is your opportunity to express your creativity in new ways, and to have your work featured in the Barbican and seen by millions of people around the world.

To get started all you need is an idea, a Github account and a browser to visit g.co/devart to show us what you would create. From there, we’ll pick one creator whose work will sit alongside some of the world’s finest interactive artists who are also creating installations for DevArt: Karsten Schmidt, Zach Lieberman, and the duo Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet.

You can use any blend of technologies such as OpenFrameworks or Processing, Arduino or Raspberry Pi for your project. The only requirement is that you use at least one Google technology from any of the four groups below:

• Languages: Go or Dart.
• Platforms: Chrome Apps, Android, Google Compute Engine or App Engine.
• Toolkits: Any use of Google Web Toolkit or Polymer.
• APIs: Any use of a Google API. The full list is here.

All the installations are being actively developed as Open Source on Github, giving you a rare look into artists’ ways of working with modern technologies.

Head over to g.co/devart to kick off your project. If you are excited to be a part of this project but need some more inspiration, look over our collection of catalogued entries from our artists and others to see how they start to explore their creativity.


Paul Kinlan is a Developer Advocate in the UK on the Chrome team specialising on mobile. He lives in Liverpool and loves trying to progress the city's tech community from places like DoES Liverpool hack-space.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor