Google's new project can immortalize street art. (Wikimedia Commons)

Created by the technology giant’s Paris-based Google Cultural Institute, the Street Art Project is a database comprised of street art from around the globe, including works that no longer exist. Images were provided by cultural institutions worldwide, as well as taken by Google’s Street View camera. 

This initiative represents Google’s entrance into one of the most contentious debates within the art world - how or whether to reconcile street art, which is ephemeral and often created willfully and subversively, with the traditional definition of art. Google’s efforts to preserve what in some cases is considered vandalism also opens up questions on how to legally preserve street art. 

The Street View technology also raises concerns within Europe, whose citizens have aggressively criticized such surveillance tactics as an invasion of privacy. 

Director of the Google Cultural Institute, Amit Sood, claims that the project treats street art no differently than any other genre of art featured. Artists have high hopes for the project, stating that it only furthers their mission of democratizing art. 

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