Here’s the premise of Send Me SFMOMA, as designed by former SFMOMA Creative Technologist Jay Mollica: art lovers text the museum a word or emoji, which queries our open website API, and we text back an artwork image from our 50,000-piece collection. People have requested everything from the word “sad” to a fried egg emoji. The pleasure of chatting with an art museum, and of texting and immediately receiving a texted artwork, has enabled people around the world to engage with our collection and see works that are rarely on view within the museum. Since its launch, the New York Times, Time, Techcrunch, Artnet News, Hyperallergic, and many more have spread the news: Art is just a text away.

Running a short code that received over 6 million texts is expensive, and SFMOMA deals with the same fiscal constraints as every other arts organization and non-profit. But the museum believes (and I agree) that the first priority for all our digital experiences is to encourage and/or enhance IRL encounters with art. We are directing our upcoming projects toward that end.