Your everyday encounters with art 🖼️
How ArtPoint is using the flexibility of digital art to make it ubiquitous…
Not many of us have spent much time in museums during the past year, as a major part of the population suffered from a profound lack of access to culture, an access which is essential to social cohesion. Laurie and Julie are the founders of ArtPoint, a new kind of experience supplier, bringing digital art out of museums and exhibitions.
Many thanks to you both for sharing your experience with us! You have decided to bring a new approach to the art world, could you give us your read on the current state of the industry, did it change much since 50 years ago?
Artists have always appropriated the tools offered by their time and art has reflected the issues of a society. Today, new technologies offer an increasingly broad field of creation to artists, who simply use current tools to question their times.
Artistic creation evolves at the same rhythm as technological developments, but paradoxically, the artistic ecosystem and the gallery model is evolving relatively slowly. Art is still reserved to a certain elite, the system of distribution and consumption of works of art having not changed. However, digital works of art are departing from the codes of traditional works of art. Intangible, duplicable, etc. digital works of art are part of a logic which is different from that of more traditional works.
This is for us the proof that a new model must be thought of for digital artworks. We should get out of the traditional logics for digital artworks and in particular that of appropriation, rarity and consumption in cultural places. New media encourage the emergence of new models and an innovative look at art consumption.
With ARTPOINT, we want to democratize art to the greatest number and multiply the meeting points between the works and their public by bringing them together directly into our living places.
Artists have always appropriated the tools offered by their time and art has reflected the issues of a society.
Monetizing content is obviously a big struggle for many creative types. Since I can imagine that aiming to transform the entire art world might be a tad too ambitious, why would digital art be a good starting point, and why now?
In recent years, we have observed a real craze around all the exhibitions dedicated to digital art. In 2018, Atelier des Lumières attracted more than 1.5 million visitors in a few months. In the same year, the Team Lab exhibition at La Villette was among the top 5 most visited exhibitions in Paris with a record audience. A similar success met the Artists and Robots exhibition at the Grand Palais.
This medium challenges, fascinates, and provides new emotions to a public in search of experiences. People are very curious to discover the full creative potential of new technologies! We are thus convinced that we should take digital art experiences out of the confined museums and bring them directly to the public in our living spaces. With ARTPOINT, we have a dual ambition:
Enhance the daily lives of thousands of people through surprising artistic experiences in our living places.
Promote digital artistic creation by multiplying the meeting points between works and their audience.
The success of digital art can be measured all over the world, especially in Canada, Asia and North America. Today, screens are everywhere! We truly believe that tomorrow's art will come alive on screen, in living places, as close as possible to its audience. We therefore wish to become the reference in terms of digital art!
I think everyone who has been to one of these exhibitions would agree with you on the impact of digital art. However, I reckon that one does not become interested in the topic out of the blue, what personal experiences gave you the spark?
We were both very sensitive to the art world, and we wanted to launch a venture in the cultural sector. As part of our Master's degree in Entrepreneurship at HEC Paris, we came together around this fascination for digital art, and we wanted to make a change in this booming sector! We wrote a thesis on the digital art market and carried out a long field survey, which confirmed a real need on this market.
We very quickly established partnerships with the most prestigious French art schools and major cultural institutions in Paris. Furthermore, we also established relationships with 200 of the world's greatest digital artists and gained real credibility in this field. Today, it is truly the support of our artists and the approval of our clients that gives us legitimacy in this sector.
Today, screens are everywhere!
So you knew that you wanted to bring digital art out of museums, but then, what enabled you to find viable spaces to do so?
We wanted to take digital art out of museums, and it was evident that digital art was responding to trends in several sectors.
Our living spaces are holding more and more promises. They are being digitalised very fast and transformed into real places of conviviality and sharing.
Hotels, in competition with platforms like Airbnb, are promising more and more services, particularly in terms of catering, well-being and culture.
Shopping malls, faced with competition from e-commerce, are suffering from public disaffection and are seeking to upgrade their spaces to create new reasons to visit.
Company offices are becoming places of inspiration where employees meet to exchange ideas and to be creative.
At ARTPOINT, we want to re-enchant our living spaces with experiences that combine art and new technologies, because we are convinced that digital art is the perfect answer to all these different challenges.
We have curated more than 200 of the most talented digital artists of the moment, from all over the world, and we bring our clients the best of their works through two different solutions:
The digital gallery: access to a catalogue of more than 1500 digital artworks directly on screen in exchange for a monthly subscription.
The tailor-made solution: creation and sale of installations mixing art and new technologies based on a precise brief. Interactive art, immersive art, digital sculptures, data art, etc. the field of possibilities is infinite!
That sounds very reasonable from a business standpoint, please tell me that you still keep a secret cultural agenda which is fostered by your activities.
As stated above, in the one hand, we want to democratize access to art to as many people as possible and to enhance our living places and therefore our daily lives.
In the other hand, we want to promote digital artistic creation and to propel a new generation of artists.
We want to democratize access to art to as many people as possible.
That's the kind of noble goals that we like to see here! Since we have been very theoretical so far, could you describe the type of artists with whom you are collaborating and the specificities of their practices?
We only work with digital artists, those who use new technologies as a means of production and as food for thought. We then validate they have a true artistic approach and work around a singular universe. Our works must not only be aesthetic but also highlight current considerations of our world. Many of our digital artists question our relationship to nature, to new technologies, to others, etc. through the prism of art.
We work with the greatest digital artists including Yoshi Sodeoka, Luigi Honorat, Olivier Ratsi, etc. precursor artists in the field exhibiting all over the world! We represent all digital know-how: video art, interactive art, generative art, video mapping, digital sculptures, urban art 2.0…
Artists perceive a real interest in our new medium. We bring them a new visibility and new revenues. It is very satisfying for us to be encouraged by the artists and to be able to participate in the digital artistic creation by offering them new means of distribution. They are a real support!
Before we say goodbye, can you inspire us with artists you successfully showcased or art installations to which you are proud to have contributed?
Here you can find some examples of renderings of our digital gallery solution on screen: enjoy 🙂
Trail Ways, Vincent Ubags - Pullman Tour Eiffel
Glacier Flare, Wizmo - Riviera Marriott Hotel La porte de Monaco
Plastic, Studio Tish - Riviera Marriott Hotel La porte de Monaco
Also, here you can find some examples of tailor-made projects:
Interactive art - Lidar Touch, Future Wife
Generative art - Pollution, Parse/Error
Video Mapping - Rescape Light, Limelight
Thank you very much!