The sign of a great cultural institution is that it's always reinventing itself, never becoming complacent and resting on its history and reputation. This month, New York's esteemed Museum of Modern Art reconfirmed its long-standing reputation for innovation by launching a free iPhone app that not only brilliantly enhances the museum-going experience, but delivers to your mobile phone a massive database of over 30,000 works of Modern Art.

If you have an iPhone, no longer do you need to rent those uncomfortable headsets when you visit the museum. Audio tours are built right into the application, as are floor plans with descriptions and photographs of every piece of art. In designing the new mobile application, MoMA smartly put the user first--it allows you to take a photograph and then send it to your friends as a postcard, and gives you the ability to listen to your own music via iTunes whilst using the app as you wander through the museum's vast collection.

For us, the new Character Approved MoMA iPhone app sets a new bar for demonstrating how art museums can leverage new technologies. Even if you are not planning on visiting the museum any time soon, this is an application that every art lover should have.

[Image: iTunes]