The original set of 176 emojis developed by NTT DOCOMO has been donated to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has been licensed to display the emojis in its permanent collection alongside works by Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock, it said on Wednesday. Japanese national carrier Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, or NTT DOCOMO, developed the original set of 176 emojis and released them for cellphones and pagers in 1999. Senior curator at MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design Paola Antonelli said part of the museum's mission had always been to collect and display timeless art and design. The original emojis, designed by developer Shigetaka Kurita, proved very popular in Japan, and the rest of the world soon caught on.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 27, 2016 19:33 UTC