Page 39 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

to those of Artspace, stems from a project by engineer Carter Cleveland, who in 2010 set out to create an art search engine for art collectors and lovers who couldn’t nd works they liked or felt intimidated by galleries (Siegler, 2010)[Fig. 3]. Initially designed as a social network, under the responsibility of gallery owner Larry Gagosian and other investors it became a platform for collectors of high-level art bringing together 180 galleries in 40 countries (Chayka, 2011). Since 2013, it has also o ered art consultancy services and the following year it began hosting online auctions. One feature that sets Artsy apart from other similar initiatives is the so-called Art Genome Project, a system for classifying artworks based on a whole host of characteristics (art movement, subject, forms, colours and many more) which are identi ed in each piece by a team of art historians. Every work is assigned between 30 and 40 ‘genes’, which allow works to be related to each other on the basis of the number of characteristics they have in common. That way Artsy’s database can recommend similar works to users and guide them towards the art they nd most interesting. Even so, this project, whose complexity has delayed the launch of the platform, has been progressively shunned in favour of an approach centred more on putting collectors in touch with art galleries.owner of Haunch of Venison, and Robert L. Norton, former director of Saatchi Online, the platform attracts the attention of the mediaby o ering ‘digital editions’ by artists such as Damien Hirst or Tracey Emin for between 10 and 15 euros [Fig. 4] . Sedition sells photos and videos in digital format in editions of up to 10,000 copies at very a ordable prices. Even so, the works are not acquired as such by the purchaser but remain on Sedition’s server and can be viewed through a web browser or applications for smartphones and tablets. Although the platform was initially centred on acclaimed artists, it has progressively incorporated digital artworks by young artists such as Casey Reas, Aaron Koblin, Matt Pike and Rafaël Rozendaal. The format proposed by Sedition makes more sense in the case of works designed to be viewed on a computer screen, though the limitationsof its digital editions pose certain problems. The main disadvantage is that collectors doFIG.3: ‘In gallery’ preview of a work on sale on the Artsy platform.Sedition7 is currently the initiative that pays the most attention to the digital media’s potential for publicising and selling artworks. Founded at the end of 2011 by gallerist Harry Blain, formerFIG.4: Section of popular works in Sedition’s catalogue, with their respective selling prices.AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 201639