Page 42 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

42subscription fee to access its art collection and can also purchase certain limited-edition works. The size and resolution of its screen, which has a wooden frame and passpartout, is one of the most salient features of Depict.Lastly, DAD (the Digital Art Device)17 has been launched by gallerist Carlos Cárdenas and entrepreneur Vincent Justin. Based on their experience in contemporary art and luxury hotels, they have developed in France a system that includes two devices (a 42-inch screen and a multimedia player) and a subscription to curated exhibitions (which are displayed on the screen), as well as a collection of works sold in limited editions.With subscription services, clients pay for access to content they can display comfortably on their screen or replace it with others as they wish.Most of these companies have launched their products in a manner comparable to platforms like iTunes and Spotify, proposing a form of consuming art similar to that of music or lms, where customers pay for access to content that can be displayed conveniently on their screen and can replace it with others as they wish. Works can also be purchased – usuallyin editions of hundreds or thousands, for very low prices (except DAD, which is targeted at high-level collectors). As stated earlier, in these cases the frame is the most important element and de nes the content, as each of these devices is associated with a selection of works (though in many cases it is possible to show other content uploaded by users or extracted from the Internet). Digital art frames started to be widely sold in September 2015, and it is therefore too soon to ascertain their impact on the art market and their popularity with collectors and other buyers. Nevertheless, they o er a new meansof acquiring, collecting and experiencing art in digital format.New media artists vis-à-vis the art marketA survey conducted on 14 Spanish artists18 born between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s provides an overview of how these creators, who work with new media, regard the in uence of the contemporary art market on their professional career. Hailing from di erent Spanish cities, more than one-third currently live in other European countries such as France, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Estonia. They have all taken part in international exhibitions at museums, art centres and festivals and have received many grants and prizes. Five of them have won VIDA awards at the art and arti cial life international competition promoted by Fundación Telefónica between 1999 and 2015, while most have taken part in or received a distinction at the prestigious Ars Electronica festival held in Linz (Austria). Despite having pursued, or just started out on, brilliant professional careers, very few of these artists enjoy a presence at galleries and art fairs.Most of them feel that the role played by the art market in their professional career is ‘tangential’, ‘low-key’ or even negative.19 Some artists, such as Félix Luque20 and Néstor Lizalde,21 point out that the format of their works is not suitable for galleries, as it entails high production and development costs [Fig. 6–7]. Others, such as Guillem Bayo22 and Pablo Valbuena,23 believe the market demands certain formats that limit artists’ creativity and are not always in keeping with their interests. In the opinion of Mar Canet and Varvara Guljajeva,24 securing a place in the art market has entailed a substantial nancial investment that they have not managed to make pro table. Clara Boj and Diego Díaz25 believe that their way of working, centred on experimentation and processes, ‘clashes head-on with [the] idea of art that the market proposes’. This opinion is shared by Patxi Araujo26 and Moisés Mañas,27 who are more drawn to working in an environment of academic research. Striking a happy medium, Daniel Palacios28THE ART MARKET IN THE AGE OF ACCESS · PAU WAELDERSmart Culture: Impact of the Internet on Artistic Creation