Contest and prizes introduce gaming feature on Art Gallery app

A gaming element has been added to the Art at GVSU mobile application, providing students, faculty, and staff with an interactive element and a chance to win prizes, including an Xbox Kinect bundle.

Beginning March 11, the Art at GVSU app will present nine of the university’s artworks daily and ask users to vote for their favorite piece. Every time a user casts a vote they will earn a point in their account on the game server. Weekly prizes of a $15 gift card will be awarded to those who accumulate the most points each week. The gift cards are redeemable at University Bookstore and Campus Dining.

Whoever places the last vote of the day for the artwork voted the most favorite will be awarded extra points and entered in a general drawing to win the Xbox Kinect bundle at the end of the contest April 21. Gamers can use their smartphones to cast votes, check their point balance and get more information about the artworks in the game section of the app.

“The gaming enhancements to the existing Art at GVSU app are yet another way to encourage engagement with the art on campus,” said Nathan Kemler, the Art Gallery’s collections manager. He did the ambitious work four years ago to place the university’s entire art collection online in digital format, and worked closely with the School of Computing and Information Systems to develop the initial mobile app that launched in 2012.

The development work for the new gamification elements was done by graduate students Juan Mejia and Sam Serpoosh in the Mobile Applications & Services Lab, under the guidance of Associate Professor Jonathan Engelsma. In the coming weeks shared situated displays will be installed around campus and will provide players with live leaderboards and insights into what artworks are currently trending.

Art at GVSU is available in the iTunes App store here and in the Google Play store here.