In March of this year, renowned auction house Christie’s offered its first piece of fully digital art for auction. The sale shattered records. The piece, called “Everydays – The First 5000 Days” by Mike Winkelmann, sold for over $69 million; it positioned him as one of the most valuable living artists and ushered in an era of legitimacy and desirability for digital art, the market for which has since sky-rocketed. With the art market changing, it’s important to explore this new medium and what it offers collectors.
What is it, exactly?
Digital art has been around since the 1970s when British artist Harold Cohen created a computer program designed to paint and draw. His work sparked questions about artificial intelligence and how we define art and artists; it also drew artists to the potential in this new medium. Since then, digital art has become a vast field for artistic exploration.
Digital art now is as expansive and diverse as the medium. It includes everything from complex collages of visual and audio elements to GIFs and memes to an autographed tweet by the founder of Twitter. It ranges from iconic pieces of pop culture to a work commissioned to complement a personal collection. There’s digital artwork for every taste, space, and buyer.
How does it work?
More recently, the development of NFTs (or Non-Fungible Tokens) has caused the digital art market to see explosive growth. NFTs are units of data that certify a digital product (like a audio-visual collage or the “disaster girl” meme) is unique and belongs to a particular owner. This technology means that owning digital art is both more and less like owning physical art. The person who purchases a Picasso or a Monet wants to be sure they are buying an authentic piece of art and that they can prove their ownership of that art. The potential Picasso owner turns to an authenticator for this. NFTs allow for that in the digital realm. The result has been a massive increase in interest in buying and selling digital art.
How do I display it?
Whether you are an investor, collector, or appreciator, the big question is how to display your digital art. As with physical art, you need to find the right space, the context for the art that will best complement it, but unlike a large painting or heavy piece of sculpture, you have the option to easily change both the context and the piece being displayed. In a smart home, every screen can be your canvas.
Does a particular piece evoke feelings of inspiration and invigoration? Maybe it’s best on the screen in your bedroom in the morning, motivating you up and out of bed. After a long day, however, a soothing abstract audio-visual work that elicits a calm, serene sense of being is a better fit for that same space. Or perhaps you want to display your latest acquisitions to guests during an elegant affair? Your connected home can be an endlessly customizable art gallery.
How can I make the most of it?
Services like Blackdove make it effortless to create your home gallery. Their app integrates with both Crestron and Savant home automation systems so that your art display preferences are as easy to control as your lighting. Synthesize lighting, shades, and art displays with your daily routine to curate your ultimate home gallery experience.
While any screen in your smart home can be a canvas, many manufacturers are now designing TVs with art displays in mind. Samsung developed The Frame, a TV with a dedicated art mode, light sensors to ensure optimal viewing, options for purchasing art through their store or uploading your own, and, of course, several stylish frames.
The digital age has ushered in an era of digital art. While paintings and sculptures will never be obsolete, this new medium provides endless opportunities, especially for those seeking to bring cutting-edge art into their homes.
Responsive Living, the term coined by Acoustic Architects founders, Aaron Flint and Spencer Hauldren, is the concept of seamlessly enhancing the client’s unique lifestyle using smart home technology. Responsive Living allows you to interact with your space via touch input, voice command, and predictive automation, placing you in full control of your home.
If you would like to learn more about integrating health-promoting technologies into your space, feel free to connect with us. We will be happy to schedule a demo with you.
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