THE National Gallery's new "multimedia centre" has background information about some 100 paintings in its collection. What does it have that a well written, well illustrated catalogue doesn't contain? Well, you can navigate through the information by room number, country, chronology, theme or index. Another option is to zoom in on different parts of a painting.
It's based on a fairly easy to use "touch screen" system and headsets. "The system is very simple to use," a leaflet boasts. "You need no knowledge of computers or history. Just touch any highlighted part of the screen in order to guide the computer to where you want to go.
But being able to "go anywhere" assumes that - after queuing for ages - you can manage to grab an uncomfortable stool at one of the computers that actually work. On the opening Saturday, there were only seven terminals. Of these, one had an "out of order" notice, with no sign of a technician to repair it while I was there. Another terminal was permanently frozen at the opening screen, and nobody could use it. A third machine gave "file not found" error messages most of the time.
So a maximum of four out of seven workstations appeared to be working properly on the opening day. This is the kind of failure rate - over 40 per cent - that wouldn't be tolerated in the gallery's other technologies (such as the lighting or heating systems, not to mention the lifts). It isn't a great advent for the hardware or software of the centre's sponsor, IBM.
As former Taoiseach Charles Haughey said at the gallery's official re opening: "They have used the most modern technology to very good effect." But in the case of the multimedia centre, it's not the most modern technology - or software.
Anyone who has seen the "European Masters" show presentation back in 1993 will get a strong sense of deja vu, and you'd wonder whether IBM has had its head in the silicon in the intervening three years. In fact, the centre is strikingly unambitious: it ignores the latest advances in the design of CD Roms (art CD Roms were noticeably absent in the gallery's bookshop too) and computer monitors (such as large, wall mounted flatbed screens).
Nor is there any facility to print the pictures or text you've just seen this has been a standard feature in the multimedia centres of other galleries, such as the National Gallery in London.
The idea of having only seven terminals is also amazing: your average cybercafe would probably have more.
The same cybercale would, presumably on a much tighter budget, also have a more friendly design. It would have facilities to save your information onto disk or print it out. And, obviously, it would give users access to a rich world of art on the Web.
"State of the art" might be a much abused term nowadays, but state of the art this centre unfortunately isn't.