Google “Open Gallery” lets you create online exhibitions

Google on Monday officially launched “Open Gallery,” a new service that lets aspiring artists create exhibitions online. The service is currently in an invite only stage, but Google says it hopes to allow people to tell their own stories using videos, audio and images. In a way, it’s kind of like going to an art exhibit, just through your browser and with a more multimedia-rich experience.

Today, Google Open Gallery was released to the public as part of the company’s Cultural Institute, allowing anyone with “cultural content” — whether vintage artwork or historical documents — to create online exhibitions. Google’s been working with museums worldwide for the past few years to make those collections available on the Cultural Institute. Now, according to a Google blog post, Open Gallery is available to anyone who wants to organize and publish an exhibition.