Open Art Collection : a small step towards the art business of the future

Let us be clear: we are convinced that digital will revolutionize the art world. We are convinced that this change is happening now already and it will only become more obvious over the next years. This shift is influencing the business models along which the art industry has been working since decades and it will inevitability transfer powers between the actors in the play. Some might disappear, others will gain power, new ones will come forward; after all the art industry is a business driven by supply, demand and value creation with people making decisions and trying to optimize their portfolios. New rules create new opportunities.

So where will this digital revolution – with the availability of broadband internet, the increased penetration of mobile internet and tablets, the popularization of social media like Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and LinkedIn – take the art business? We don’t want to pretend we know the answer to such vast question, but probably it will take us much further than we can think of now. Allow us to answer instead with a famous quote by Bill Gates: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten”.

A long introduction to finally come to the topic we want to discuss : is the Art Amsterdam Online experiment on Open Art Collection a step in this new direction?

If you never heard of the Open Art Collection, check their promotional video below to get up to speed:

Because it is broad topic, we will divide our thoughts on this initiative over different topics and over different posts.

In the next post, we will discuss how the “Art Amsterdam Online” experiment fits in a clear trend of digital art business experiments – such as online art fairs like the much discussed VIP Art Fair; new platforms/online marketplaces such as Welcome to Company pure online galleries such as 20X200 (with a focus on limited edition photos and artwork) and – more ambitious initiatives like art.sy developing an algorithm that will help art lovers to discover and learn more about art and connect people around the art they like.

In a second topic we want to address the way virtual art fairs are developed today. We will compare the online experience with the experience of going to gallery openings and fairs.

In a last topic we will discuss the human aspect of the virtualisation of art fairs. We will digg into the motivations for collectors, dealers and artists to be, or not to be, part of these initiatives.

We hope you will enjoy the next posts and feel free to leave your ideas in the comments on this post or contact us on @artmachtfrei to make this investigation more interactive.