Museum tours are more than just ways to show visitors around the city. More and more companies are realizing how art experiences can be instrumental in helping them achieve some of the goals they’ve set, not just for their employees’ professional development but also for their overall business growth.

Businesses are able to make the most out of these tours when they’re specifically designed according to their objectives, interests, and nature of work. This is where Art Smart’s strengths lie – utilizing the expertise and extensive knowledge of our team of art historians to provide engaging art experiences that let business professionals discover the impact art and culture has on their work.

These are just some of the goals we’ve helped our former clients achieve through the customized private tours we provided:

Gather More Support for Your Awareness Programs

For businesses who are looking to launch a new program in the workplace (e.g. gender empowerment) or those who have long-running campaigns that are not getting enough traction, increasing your employees’ level of understanding of the importance of such programs can help ensure their interest and cooperation.

We design art experiences to further explore specific topics and issues you’re trying to address. A customized private tour itinerary comprised of artworks that represent values you want to promote (e.g. diversity and inclusion) and exhibits that discuss how social issues manifest in different periods of history can be developed to help you realize your goals.

Improve Engagement During Themed Corporate Activities

Businesses regularly hold themed events – whether to provide a space for employees to network with other people in their industry or to initiate discussions around relevant topics.

A museum tour is a great way to expose your participants to more real-world applications and representations of your chosen theme and spark discussions in a more engaging way. Art Smart’s team of art historians are well-equipped to handpick the perfect setting and activities to highlight any theme you have in mind and match your participants’ interests.

Increase Employees’ Appreciation of Their Own Profession

We’ve given private tours to organizations under diverse industries – medicine, automotive, technology, finance, cosmetics, advertising, food, and event planning to name a few. Regardless of the nature of your company, our team of art experts can provide you with an art tour that will help your team learn more about the work they do and the industry they’re in. How has their profession evolved through time? What historical events have defined or affected your industry? Seeing how much impact your industry and profession has in the world will help you and your team find a new level of appreciation of what you do and boost your productivity and confidence in the office setting.

Generate Concepts for Company’s Branding and Marketing

Branding and marketing strategies constantly evolve. Businesses need to find ways to constantly catch up with new trends and discover ways to present their products and services in a way that resonates well with their target market.

We can help identify art pieces and exhibitions that can help spark fresh ideas on how you can attract more potential customers or clients to your business.

Strengthen Cooperation and Communication among Team Members

Traditional team building activities can get boring. Sometimes, conducting these activities in unique locations and in unconventional ways help the participants stay engaged throughout.

Museums make perfect venues for a one-of-a-kind team building activity. We can help you gamify your sessions so you’ll not only ensure to hit the goals you set but also have fun at the same time.

Exceed Guests’ Expectations During VIP Networking Events

Have you ever had some of your most valued clients visit and you have no idea where to take them? Or maybe some high-level executives you want to show appreciation for? Skip the usual social events and cocktail nights and take them somewhere special – like the museum.

Our extensive experience working with corporate teams and VIP guests allow us to provide your distinguished visitors an elegant and entertaining art experience to show how much you value them.

Inspire Creativity and Innovation in Your Product Design Team

It is sometimes challenging to come up with amazing ideas behind an office desk. A museum tour can facilitate your creative team’s visualization process by guiding them through art pieces they can draw inspiration from. We can develop unique visual experiences and even gamified sessions to get your team primed to unravel great ideas for your brand.

No matter what industry you’re in, things your employees are interested in, or level of appreciation they have for art – Art Smart can create art experiences that you, your team members, and guests will truly find meaningful and enjoyable.

Get in touch with our team for your next corporate event and we’ll make sure to deliver a unique art tour that will meet (and even surpass) your goals.

New Frida Kahlo Exhibit, “Appearances Can Be Deceiving” at Brooklyn Museum

Get special access to the incredible Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in New York with ART SMART. The biggest U.S. museum exhibition in ten years focused on the iconic Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving features major paintings, drawings, and photographs displayed alongside some of Kahlo’s personal artifacts and clothing.

The show highlights the ways Frida Kahlo created both her personal and public identity to reflect her cultural heritage and political beliefs. It also explores how the artist addressed and incorporated her physical disabilities into her persona and her art.

On a private Brooklyn Museum tour of this Frida Kahlo exhibit with ART SMART your group will have the chance to dive deeper into the life of this iconic woman. While being guided by a knowledgeable art historian you can ask questions, discover unlikely stories, and more. During your guided exploration at the Brooklyn Museum your group can discuss the roles and perspectives of influential female figures, as well as the challenges they face.

We will reflect on the works of art in light of several key questions, based upon your group’s interests and ages. Have children along? We’ll shine a light on Kahlo as an incredible role model. Looking for a lively discussion? We can use Kahlo’s art to explore issues of race, gender, and post colonialism. ART SMART will customize your museum tour to focus on your curiosities and questions.

Along the way we can explore other amazing exhibitions on display at the museum. Though it is often overshadowed by New York’s other fantastic museums, The Brooklyn Museum is a can’t-miss cultural gem. And after your tour, our art expert can recommend hip new bars and places to get a tasty bite in Brooklyn.

The exhibit is only open until May 12, 2019 so book your tour today!

We created a unique experience for a team from Google that combined art, technology, and networking.

Using Technology-Based Art to Inspire a Leading Online News Provider

A leading online news provider was holding a conference to gather thought leaders to discuss credibility and integrity in modern journalism. The organizers, a group from Google, are focused on supporting university research, academic development, and technological innovations that happen globally within research and AI.

They turned to ART SMART to design an art tour that would not only incorporate the theme of the conference, but also provide opportunities for conference attendees to network in a unique, engaging way.

With these goals in mind, ART SMART started out with a thought-provoking photography show with recreations of famous iconic photographs from newsworthy events throughout history. We discussed how the artists Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger used props and optical illusions to create false images, but left clues behind so that the viewer would realize that they were “fakes.” The show inspired dialogue among the clients about how current technology like Photoshop is used in similar ways to deceive viewers at times in unreliable media channels.

For the second portion of the tour we brought our clients to the Gagosian Gallery to experience the interactive Urs Fischer and Madeline Hollander exhibit entitled, “Play.” Because our clients were heavily involved in the tech world, as well as with artificial intelligence and news media, we chose the exhibit both for its entertainment value and its technological intrigue. The exhibit featured colored office chairs, which moved like real people in whimsically choreographed patterns, and seemed to have personalities all their own. As our participants interacted with the chairs, and with one another, they were both amused and perplexed by the chairs’ seemingly intelligent movements, and were able to share in a truly interactive, engaging, and stimulating experience.

Interested in booking your own corporate art experience? Contact us directly. Also, check out our other case studies for inspiration and to get a sense of what we can create.

Guggenheim Museum Tours in NYC

Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
October 6, 2017 – January 7, 2018

 

ART SMART is offering tours of the latest exhibition at the Guggenheim in NYC, “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World.” Don’t miss your chance to check out this incredible exhibit!

The exhibition features work by 71 different Chinese artists or groups and focuses on the tumultuous sociopolitical period in China from 1989 to the early 2000s. The goal of the show is to convey the contemporary Chinese experience to a global audience, to use art both as a means of reflecting on a crucial period in Chinese history and of connecting these experiences to the struggles we are facing in the present day.

On a tour of the Guggenheim’s new show, you’ll have the opportunity to explore all kinds of amazing contemporary sculpture, painting, photography, and more. With one of ART SMART’s expert art historians leading you through the museum on a private, guided tour you’ll get historical tidbits and information about the artists to contextualize the works in a way that’s totally focused on your interests. Do you want to learn more about art resulting from June 4, 1989 incident in Tiananmen Square? Are you more interested in sculptural or performance-based pieces? Do you prefer to center your tour around a particular artist? We can customize the experience any way you like!

This is the perfect opportunity to explore a fascinating show at one of the most distinguished art museums. On this ART SMART tour at the Guggenheim you’ll get to experience a unique blend of culture, history, and art in an engaging, thought-provoking way.

NYC Museum & Public Sculpture Tour
Ai Weiwei
Oct. 12, 2017 – Feb. 11, 2018

Critics are buzzing about Ai Weiwei’s powerful new installations “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” in NYC—be there with ART SMART to experience it on a private, personalized tour!

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is known throughout the world for his controversial and thought-provoking exhibits and installations. His latest exhibition in New York City, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” is no different. The many fence-like structures Ai has created are intended to serve as a metaphor for current sociopolitical issues, including immigration and border control, and to reflect the tension of the international migration crisis. These public fence sculptures suggest themes of separation and division, both on a global scale and in relation to New York City’s long history as a major port of immigration.

Let one of ART SMART’s professional art historians take you to one the exhibition’s various locations—including Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, the Cooper Union building in Manhattan, and the Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park. This exploration of the cultural, economic, and sociopolitical implications of “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” can be incorporated into one of our amazing museum or gallery tours. For example, we could spend some time at the Central Park fence installation before heading up the street to continue the tour at The Met or Guggenheim museums. This type of museum-tour-with-a-twist is perfect for anyone interested in investigating the ways art, history, and current affairs intersect.

 

 

Skip the lines by joining ART SMART on a tour one of the most important survey showing the current state of contemporary art: The 2017 Whitney Biennial at the new Whitney Museum. The tour will provide the background of the artists and behind-the-scenes stories to not to be missed. The exhibition focuses on emerging and lesser known artists; as such its become a trailblazer that has started off important art careers. Ever heard of Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock or Jeff Koons? You can thank the Whitney Biennial for helping to bring them to prominence. In this 2017 Whitney Biennial, expect to see among the 63 participants:

• Zarouhie Abdalian
• Raúl de Nieves
• Carrie Moyer
• Dana Schutz
• Larry Bell

Who’s in it, and who didn’t make the cut makes this exhibition one of the more controversial and debated events in contemporary art. Add onto that the tradition of being a lightning rod for hot topics.   The 2017 Biennial’s themes are those that are dividing Americans most these days. Ms. Locks, one of the co-curators, admitted, “When people keep talking about racism, when people keep talking about inequity, when people keep talking about debt — when conversations come around without you bringing it up — you realize: These are the ideas!” Along the way we’ll tour Aliza Nisenbaum’s work. She’s a Mexican-born artist that paints portraits of immigrants. The Biennial covers two floors and much of the new lobby. Our favorite section has a view of Larry Bell’s red squares with the NYC cityscape in the background on the new Whitney’s refreshing balconies.

Come tour the show with ART SMART to get more of the back story and explore afterwards the highlights of the Whitney Museum. We can add on a spring time tour of the High Line as well. We recommend you wrap up the tour outing with a stop Untitled, Whitney’s incredible restaurant.  Open March 17 – June 11

 

Guggenheim Museum

February 5–April 27, 2016

We’re pleased to announce our Guggenheim Museum Peter Fischli David Weiss: How to Work Better tours. On view at the Guggenheim Museum now is the witty, thoughtful exhibition How to Work Better. If you enjoy contemporary art, you got to see it. It shows the collaborative work of Peter Fischli and David Weiss dating from 1979 to 2012. What seems at first glance as ordinary and casual take of how we perceive everyday life turns out to be something much more inspiring and wonderful. With over 300 works of sculpture, photographs, videos and installations in the How to Work Better exhibition to tour, there is something here for everyone.

According to the Guggenheim Museum’s art-speak, “these whimsical philosophers” playfully unravel “what they understood to be ‘popular opposites’:
– labor versus leisure
– fiction versus reality
– kitsch versus beauty, and
– the banal versus the sublime, among others.”

Our favorite opposite: while this show is quite colorful, it’s mostly in black and white. Join us on a guided personal tour and we’ll make sure you get all it has to offer. Book yours now.

The Whitney Museum of Art

Open Plan

February 26-May 14, 2016

For all those joining us on a guided, personal tour of The Whitney Museum this February 26 through May 14, 2016, there is a special treat in store: Open Plan. With the expertise of your art-historian guide at hand, you’ll be able to experience the largest column-free museum exhibition space in New York. All 18,200 square feet of it makes for an expansive and inspiring New York City canvas. The windows have striking views east into the city and west to the Hudson River.
This Open Plan is an experimental five-part exhibition using the Whitney Museum’s dramatic fifth-floor as a single open gallery. It’s unobstructed by interior walls. We’re particularly looking forward to pianist Cecil Taylor’s ten-day musical residency there. Taylor is a pioneer of free jazz whose work draws on a myriad of different musical styles conveyed through radical improvisation. Come and enjoy the many sights and sounds of Open Plan on a private Whitney Museum with ART SMART Tours leading the way.

Tour the New Whitney Museum, The Highline, or Chelsea Galleries Too

Afterwards, tour the new Whitney Museum with us. Inside and out, the Whitney’s architecture is aspiring. We particularly adore the patio stairwells which will be perfect for the spring weather. And the Meatpacking District location is just next to The Highline Park and Chelsea. Make it an afternoon and stroll the neighborhoods. Or combine your Whitney outing with a Highline Tour or a visit to the Chelsea galleries. The Whitney Board of Directors sure knew what they were doing when they moved to this location.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Manus x Machina
May 5-August 14, 2016

We always looks forward to creating guided tours inspired by the Met Museum Costume Institute’s show; this spectacular one is no exception. Funded by Apple, Manus x Machina will examine the imprint new technology has made on fashion. It’s main focus is how the top designers are “reconciling the handmade and the machine-made in the creation of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear.”

Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology at The Costume Institute

Using the Metropolitan Museum of Art main galleries, your tour guide will provide you with the fascinating background and buzz leading up to the main show. Our tours will prepare you to see more than one hundred ensembles that date from an 1880 to just last year. The Manus x Machina exhibition:

– examines the emergence of haute couture in the nineteenth century
– shows the unfolding of a distinction between the hand and machine
– points out high fashion’s genesis due to industrialization and mass production
– incorporate the traditional structure of a couture atelier, and
– displays ensembles using new technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting

With your interests and pace in mind, your ART SMART tour guide will take you the Met to explore fashion and art related to the show. As with all of our services, you can combine this experience with another. We suggest adding a tour of the Fashion Institute of Technology is you are a fashionist. Or if you love a modern and contemporary edge, explore the Chelsea and Lower East Side art galleries with us. Get more custom tour ideas and book now.

March 18-September 4, 2016

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has gone modern with the new Met Breuer. We’ll certainly be there offering our private tours of The Met Breuer. Our guided tour of The Met Breuer’s Inaugural Exhibition Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible will bring you through a subject at the very heart of artistic practice—the question of just when a work of art is finished. For the Met Breuer curators of this show, the descriptors “unfinished,” “non-finito,” and their inventive term “unfinished-ness,” are used to draw out meaning among the 197 exhibition pieces.

On your ART SMART tour we’ll explore:
– paintings intentionally left unfinished
– sculptures left incomplete by the artists
– installation pieces that need to be completed by the viewer present

Along the way of your guided Met Breuer Museum tour, we’ll see this aesthetic investigated by Old Masters including:
-Titian
-Rembrandt
-Turner
-Cézanne
and newer modern and contemporary artists who have intentionally blurred the lines between making and un-making. About forty percent of the show comes from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; the remainder are prestigious loans.

As with all of our services, our museum tours will be customized to your interests. As such, we can follow up your Met Breuer experience with an ART SMART guided tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art itself, or visit other modern and contemporary art galleries together.
Learn more or book your tour now.