Buffalo, NY – The Albright-Knox Art Gallery announced a major new initiative today. The AK Innovation Lab will serve as a place where creativity, innovative thinking, and collaboration combine to develop dynamic approaches to pressing issues in museums and contemporary society. 

Housed in the museum’s Clifton Hall, the AK Innovation Lab represents a significant, long-term commitment to the AK’s impact across the Western New York region and beyond, and embodies a fusion of pioneering thought and innovative partnerships. This makes the AK one of the only museums in the United States with a department, dedicated space, and board committee devoted solely to an innovation center. 

The AK Innovation Lab harnesses the AK’s entrepreneurial spirit and ambition to address social and economic issues through the implementation of projects that further the mission of the AK and have a positive impact on diverse communities. The AK Innovation Lab will house multiple projects simultaneously in a series of “pods,” the first two of which are already underway. The initiative has been made possible, in part, through the support of The Seymour H. Knox Foundation, in conjunction with The John R. Oishei Foundation, an anonymous family foundation, and by the New York State Council on the Arts through Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Western New York Regional Economic Development Council initiative.

The first project the Innovation Lab will work on, designated “Pod 1,” is the development of an interactive mobile gaming application for children ages 9 to 13 called ArtGames 2.0. This project has been developed in collaboration with the International Center for Excellence in Animation at Daemen College and Empire Visual Effects. The completed app will be released on June 27, 2015, with a massive launch event scheduled on the AK’s campus.

The second project, designated “Pod 2,” is the Education Discovery Initiative, an extensive, pioneering survey focused on visual arts education across Western New York to be distributed to more than 700 educators, principals, and superintendents. The project and survey have been developed in collaboration with faculty and graduate students in the Sociology Department in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University at Buffalo.

Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director Janne Sirén said, “The AK Innovation Lab is a creative center at the Albright-Knox for new thinking and new ideas—a place where innovative thought and partnership converge to realize meaningful projects. The AK Innovation Lab expands our notion of what the twenty-first century museum can become. It feeds on intelligent energies, creative place-making, and fortunately, we are surrounded by organizations, institutions, and foundations that share this collective mindset.”

Upon his arrival in Buffalo, Sirén began meeting weekly with a cross-departmental team of AK staff members to engage in dialogue, conduct research regarding innovation centers around the world, vet ideas, and explore concepts to develop the Innovation Lab.

Though distinct, both AK Innovation Lab projects are designed to promote critical and creative thinking skills for young people both in and out of the classroom. Visual thinking strategies form the nucleus of these initiatives—skills that are increasingly important in today’s digital world.

The AK Innovation Lab will help realize the Albright-Knox’s vision of the twenty-first century museum transformed into a perpetual symposium, and will enable the institution to play a dynamic, leading role in defining the vital place of museums as shared resources for contemporary society. As a hub of artistic and cultural energies, the AK strives to be an inspiring resource for all audiences. The Innovation Lab and its first two projects are directly related to this mission.

ArtGames 2.0

ArtGames 2.0 is a fun and educational game in which children can become familiar with different art styles and movements, various artists and artistic concepts, and masterworks from the AK's Collection. Users will first enter the home environment—a 3-D interface updated in real-time—where they will have access to all ArtGames 2.0 portals. Each portal contains a different style of game that is shaped around the artwork it highlights.

An important aspect of ArtGames 2.0 is its capability to link to social media, allowing users to track and share high scores and rankings, share posts about different games, and connect with one another through the home interface environment. As social media continues to grow, so too does the opportunity for museums to reach a broad, diverse audience.

The creation of ArtGames 2.0 provides a new model for learning and developing visual literacy skills by bridging the gap between the virtual worlds of youth-focused video and Internet games and the real world of art objects in museum galleries. By harnessing enthusiasm for video games and interactive experiences, ArtGames 2.0 will engage and excite young minds about modern and contemporary art. 

Education Discovery Initiative

The Education Discovery Initiative, including the survey and its compiled data, will ultimately provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of visual art education in the region, allowing the AK to play an active role in supporting educators, administrators, and policy-makers, and enhancing the educational experience for schoolchildren throughout Western New York. This will ultimately serve the goal of activating critical and creative thinking skills among students in grades K through 12 in Western New York schools, with the ambition of revitalizing art education to create robust critical thinkers and problem solvers for the twenty-first century. 

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