Page 41 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

market. To prevent them from being mistaken for TV sets and give them a similar appearance to framed artworks, these screens generally have a wooden frame (or even a passpartout) and in some cases they can only be hung vertically. Even so, the buyer does not acquire a framed work but rst buys the frame and then the art to be adapted to this format.audience interested in technology and design, the screen was presented at the MoMA Design Store in New York and began to be distributed in 2015.New devices make it possible to show and collect art in digital format. Digital picture frames are high-resolution screens incorporating a PC and wireless Internet connection.Another newly created company is Electric Objects,14 founded in New York in 2014 by Jake Levine (former director of the website Digg. com) with a share capital of 1.7 million dollars provided by a group of investors. The digital art display developed by Electric Objects, called EO1, is a vertical 23-inch screen incorporatinga computer and wireless connection. Unlike FRAMED, it does not allow direct interaction or have loudspeakers and is designed to show xed or moving images without sound. The company has paid special attention to the selection of work that can be shown on its screen, focusing on emerging artists, illustrators, designersand videogame developers in order to attract younger collectors in particular.New York is also home to Meural,15 a rm founded in 2014, which in April 2015 advertised its digital canvas aimed at a large audience. Consisting of a 27-inch screen with built-inPC in a wooden frame, Meural’s device o ersa broad selection of images of classical and contemporary art through its collaboration with museums, galleries, image banks and platforms such as Sedition. Instead of selling these images, the company o ers access to its collection in exchange for a monthly subscription.Depict,16 founded in San Francisco in 2013, began by developing its art collection, whichits clients can access via streaming on any TV with an Internet connection. In January 2015, thanks to the 2.4-million dollar share capital put up by a group of investors, it developed its own device, a 50-inch screen with 4K resolution (UltraHD) equipped with a multimedia player and WiFi connection. Depict’s clients can pay aFIG.5: Promotional image of the DAD digital frame showing Schwarm (2014) by Andreas Nicolas Fischer. Photo: Emin Sassi. Courtesy of DAD, the Digital Art Device.In 2014 and 2015, various companies began selling digital picture frames designed to grace the walls of art collectors and enthusiasts’ homes, o ces and studios. Although each rm caters to a relatively di erentiated sector of the public, they all base their business model on selling a device of their own and a collection of artworks created or adapted to the device.The rst company to launch a digital picture frame was FRM of Japan,13 founded by engineer Yugo Nakamura and producer William Lai. Its rst product, FRAMED 1.0, was a 55-inch screen with an inbuilt webcam and microphone that was released onto the market in 2012. The screen could originally only be hung vertically and came with functional pieces such as series of animations that displayed the time. In 2014 a second version was launched through a crowdfunding campaign, this time in two sizes (24 and 40 inches); it could be hung vertically or horizontally and was equipped with sensors for interaction with the frame. Targeted chie y at anAC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 201641Smart Culture: Impact of the Internet on Artistic Creation