News and Events

Award-winning graduate designs app for Tate Modern

23 May 2012

BU graduate has designed a unique ‘Magic Tate Ball’ app for the Tate Modern.

BU Interactive Media Production graduate Ben Templeton’s creative agency ThoughtDen have crafted a unique ‘Magic Tate Ball’ app for the Tate Modern.

‘Magic Tate Ball’ is a new location-based mobile app from the world renowned Tate gallery and Bristol based digital agency Thought Den. Taking inspiration from the iconic Magic 8 Ball, simply shake your phone and this clever app presents you with an artwork that is linked to your life at that moment.

Using date, time-of-day, geographical location, live weather data and ambient noise levels the app will select from a wealth of artworks from Tate’s Collection for the best match.

With artworks from Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet and many more, Magic Tate Ball presents a new, playful approach to discovering art.

Jane Burton, Creative Director and Head of Content, Tate Media: “I love the serendipity of discovering art through Magic Tate Ball. We hope it will please both existing Tate fans and new audiences who are interested in a more playful experience than cultural institutions typically offer.”

Wherever you are in the world, Magic Tate Ball will find an appropriate piece of art. On a sunny day, share in Constable’s appreciation of the great British landscape; if it’s raining you might encounter Matisse’s ‘Snail’; or in a noisy pub you might get a Georg Baselitz sculpture made with a chainsaw. Each work comes with a Twitter-sized informative write-up. A hidden bonus feature in the app can only be activated when the user visits Tate Modern.

Ben, who is a Creative Director at Thought Den, said: “Magic Tate Ball is an everyday, playful way of reaching an audience outside the more formal environment of a gallery. For each artwork we wanted to find a trigger in the user’s immediate surroundings which would help them engage with the work.”

‘Magic Tate Ball’ is available in the Apple AppStore and Nokia OVI Store from 11 May 2011.

Interactive Media Production has now been renamed Digital Media Design.