Perth Art Gallery Launches a Phone Guide; Pensioners Ask if It Can Also Explain How to Turn the Phone Off Again
Visitors can now get the stories behind the paintings on their phones. Perth's art lovers welcome it, then ask a grandchild.
Perth Museum and Art Gallery, where the art doesn't need a charger. Photo: Eirian Evans, “Perth Museum and Art Gallery - geograph.org.uk - 7434244”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Perth Art Gallery has launched a digital guide that visitors can use on their phones to learn more about the paintings and objects on display, ahead of a major exhibition of work by Scottish painter Lys Hansen opening later this month.
The guide has been welcomed by art lovers, although some visitors say it has been a learning curve. “It’s very good,” said a woman from Kinnoull. “I pointed it at a painting and it told me all about the artist. Then I pointed it at my grandson to ask him how to make it louder, and it didn’t know anything about him.”
A Scone man said he had used the guide for an hour. “I learned a great deal,” he said. “Then I realised I hadn’t looked at an actual painting once. I’d been looking at the phone. I could have done that at home.”
Gallery staff say the guide is designed to be helpful for everyone, and that people are welcome to just look at the paintings as well. “That’s still allowed,” said one. “It’s quite traditional.”
The guide is free on the Bloomberg Connects app. The phone is not, but most visitors already have one.
The real story: Culture Perth and Kinross
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
-
I downloaded the app. It told me to take my phone to the gallery. So I did. Lovely morning.
— Betty W., Perth, 1 November 2026 -
Great idea. Can they do one for the Perth bus station? I’ve been there 40 years and I still don’t know where the Crieff bus goes from.
— Graeme S., Bridgend, 1 November 2026
Write to the Editor