Last update, May 18, 2025
This is an ongoing project I have been developing along with an amazing team of senior students from USC school of Advanced Computing. It is an interactive open source educational tool designed for users to explore and build a knowledge network of the contextual background of artworks and artists. It offers a visually engaging, curiosity-driving, intellectually stimulating way to explore the interconnectedness of art and its historical, cultural, and technical contexts. It offers 7 different perspectives to look out and look into an artwork or an artist, including Political background, Economic background, Personal background, Art movement background, background of the Medium, background of the Genre and Network of an Artist. All of them will be presented in the form of data visualization including maps, graphs and timelines.
An important mission for this project is to bring users a global perspective on art history, in contrast to how the art history we were taught at school is western-centric. For one of our core features, we designed an algorithm that outputs inclusive and diversified information. For example, if you search 'Cindy Sherman' and then select 'Medium', the search engine will find artists who have used 'self-portrait photography' as a medium across culture and time.
This project started in February 2025. My team and I have developed a minimal viable product over the 3 months, with examples of user cases showing below. To know more about the project, please visit my github.
Examples of User Cases
