Google Arts & Culture and the platformization of cultural heritage: Convergence, gamification, and shifting positions of institutional partners

This study examines the history of Google Arts & Culture (GA&C) platform through a web archival analysis of its websites, mobile applications, and institutional communications. By reconstructing a historical timeline, it analyzes how the platform’s sociotechnical design and institutional positioning have shifted over time. Methodologically, the study combines web and app archival analysis, partner-facing email records, as well as interviews with a GA&C employee and institutional representatives. The findings reveal three interrelated dynamics. First, GA&C emerged through a process of convergence, consolidating diverse digitization, preservation, and storytelling initiatives under a unified corporate brand. Second, particularly on its mobile app, the platform has increasingly prioritized user-facing engagement strategies, including gamified and AI-enabled experiences, diverging from earlier institution-centered design principles. Third, despite its self-presentation as a technological facilitator, GA&C has exercised sustained editorial power by curating content, defining thematic priorities, and shaping cultural narratives. These dynamics position GA&C as a networked and platformized memory institution whose governing logic increasingly privileges user engagement over institutional needs. The study contributes a historically grounded account of platformization in the cultural sector and highlights its implications for institutional participation and cultural mediation.