Emojis make it to MoMA's permanent collection

While wandering around New York's MoMA's halls, from now on, right between a Picasso and a Warhol, you will also have the chance to see one of the 176 original emojis just acquired by the famous institution.

Among the most important museums of modern and contemporary art in the world, MoMA has, in fact, decided to add emojis to its permanent collection.

The father of emojis is Japanese Shigetaka Kurita, of phone company NTT DOCOMO, who in 1999 gave birth to the original design that has  undergone a series of evolutions before providing today's wide spectrum ranging from the flamenco dancer to 15 different types of hearts, for a total of around 1,851 emojis with a definition that rivals the original 12x12 pixels.

Those exposed at MoMA are therefore much more basic and are reduced to a few smile, some hand gestures and the zodiac signs.

If, in an article in the Guardian, Jonathan Jones stated "New York's Moma exhibiting emojis? It's like a teacher trying to twerk", Paul Galloway, the museum's architecture and design specialist, is convinced that the original emojis are a "timeless" addition to the MoMA collection.