CoArt for the artist, art dealer and gallery owner
CoArt Platform as a new form of communication in the fine-art sphere and its usefulness to the artist, art dealer and gallery owner (by Roman Rashimas).
When it comes to art, people first of all imagine the museum halls, where in a solemn atmosphere one can look at carefully guarded masterpieces of recognized artists, who are surely known to cost a lot of money, and therefore associated with Art. But is it really so?
What has guided the ancient man who painted a mammoth on the wall of his cave? Was he dreaming that his works would go to the museum or was simply expressing his creative potential in the way he could? Did Vincent van Gogh think that his paintings would be sold for tens of millions of dollars, bringing 25% commission to auction houses? Of course no. Both the ancient man and Vincent were motivated by the thirst for creativity. The state without which they could not feel the fullness of life. Nothing has changed in this sense now. The world is full of artists, both recognized and unknown, who are creating it right now.
So why is the word “Art” is associated with people with something archaic-expensive, like paintings in museums, or with something “incomprehensible,” as many say, when they meet contemporary art?
Maybe the fact is that very fundamental system of relationships in the art environment that has developed over the previous centuries is outdated and qualitatively does not correspond to the trends of the modern world. Not collectors-billionaires, not gallery owners who act as producers for artists and “promoting” their proteges for greater profits and not the elderly experts are the central figures of the world of Art, while the artists themselves are above them all.
Such an archaic, conservative and non-transparent environment of the art world’s relationships needs to be reformed. The art market is fully matured for transformation, and many projects that have arisen now in different countries, such as Maecenas, Paddle8, DADA, UOVO, Masterworks, are clearly confirmed. But this global process of market transformation does not have common basic platform. And it’s not just the technological side, based on the most modern blockchain solutions, but it is mostly about the people. About those people who can, should and want to become the main driving force of these changes. Of course, we are talking about the artists themselves.
They, the eternal rebels and anarchists, who can discern the beauty of the world and pass it to others at the level of feelings, who run along the razor’s edge between the thirst for creativity and the requirements of the society, only they can change the basic algorithm of relationships between art and society members.
As we think, Art itself is a manifestation of man’s creative potential, and infrastructure institutions such as museums or auction houses, intermediaries like galleries and art dealers, took their important but secondary role in relation to the creators of the Art itself in a new global Ecosystem of the fine-art communication, for the sake of which we are developing the CoArt open source protocol, as a separate and specialized blockchain with our own infrastructure based on EOS Software.
When acquainted with the concept of CoArt Ecosystem, many are interested in what exactly is the usefulness of the Platform for artists, art dealers or gallery owners, as well as all new communication solutions created on its basis. We are ready to answer these questions by revealing several relevant elements of the concept.
As suggested by Andy Warhol, we are not going to wait until time changes the art industry, and we are going to change the fine-art industry ourselves. One of the most ambitious aims of CoArt is the creation of the unique online art space that fully utilizes the new possibilities of technology blockchain for all people who are interested in the world of Art.
This new communicational environment will combine financial tools like online auctions, trading and investment sites, and non-profit elements, through which people can meet with Art, create art and share their work, ideas and thoughts about it 24/7.
The basis of this communication will be a blockchain-catalog of the cultural heritage of mankind, excluding the possibility of counterfeits and double sales, and the external side of the ecosystem will be the global Marketplace, where without any obstacles and excessive efforts every person who realizes himself as an artist will be able to present his works of any genre to art lovers around the world. Thus, together we can create the global art-network for art creators, art lovers, art collectors, dealers, investors, traders, experts, gallery owners etc.
- CoArt Marketplace — global digital analogue of art fairs
Everyone can put their “stand” and fill it with materials to represent their art objects. Everyone will be able to independently promote their page using it for the direct sale of their art objects, either entirely to one buyer or in parts — to several buyers who are familiar or unfamiliar with each other, which will be available through special smart contracts based on CoArt protocol. In the same way, artists will be able to sell the rights to use their works, digital versions, copyright copies or 3D-print copies of their works etc.
In addition, artists will be able to raise funds to create their new performances and installations, without being more dependent on the favor of private or public funds, in most cases depending on the subjective assessment of their owners or on the ideology of states.
What could be better for the flowering of Art in all its forms, than the liberation of artists from the dictates of the market in the face of the Funds, art dealers and galleries?
We are obliged to return pure idealism to the world of art, which is the motivation of true creativity, and at the same time we want to provide artists with means of subsistence in the modern world, without constraining them by the framework and conditions of centralized financing.
CoArt Marketplace is also positioned as a new trading platform for gallery owners and art dealers selling the artists they represent too. This does not contradict their traditional business, but creates additional channels for sales and verification of works.
After all, art objects placed on the CoArt Marketplace and other CoArt Ecosystem sites fall into the blockchain-catalog only after passing the evaluation of the expert community of a new quality using AI authentication technologies.
In addition, Marketplace will have a rating system that allows artists from the Top-100 to apply for participation in CoArt online auction, regardless of the degree of recognition or fame of these artists before.
- CoArt online Auction
Online auctions created on the basis of CoArt protocol — a special blockchain-system for the art market, intended for owners who want to sell their assets directly to customers using P2P blockchain capabilities. Both to sell objects completely (the classical auction scheme) and partially. For example, exposing only a part of your asset to the auction retaining the right of responsible storage and most of the shares sold by the asset (> 51%) are saved by the owner.
Such a scheme resembles the synthesis of business models of existing online auctions, such as Paddle8, and new blockchain auctions like Maecenas, but thanks to the capabilities of the special CoArt software based on EOS, it makes the whole process easier, more convenient and cheaper for sellers and buyers who do not need to mediate auction houses therefore, whose commissions can reach up to 30% of the selling price of the asset in a number of cases, which often does not make the owner of the asset the beneficiary of the transaction but the auction house. All art assets, wholly or partly sold at the auctions of CoArt online Auction System or other online auctions, created on the basis of CoArt protocol, are tokenized.
Even before the asset is put up for auction it breaks into sets of tokens — “digital shares” of specific works distributed according to the terms of smart contracts between buyers who have invested in smart contracts in a targeted way, so that assets at the auction can be purchased by more than one buyer, but in groups of persons unfamiliar to each other. The meaning of such share acquisitions can be both investment and charity, depending on the form and purpose of specific auctions.
The parity of buyers’ shares in the acquired asset will be determined by the same principle of consensus as the acquisition of high-value lots at external auctions, carried out by groups of investors using such systems like CoArt Investment Fund or other investment platforms created on the basis of CoArt protocol.
Thus, the key difference between CoArt online auction and other online auctions (like Paddle8, Artsy, Artnet etc) is the tokenization of art objects put up for auction, using a specialized protocol, which allows to:
a) sell assets entirely, but not to one buyer, as it usually happens, but to groups of investors, regardless of their previous contacts.
b) sell only a part of their assets (for example, 30%) both in parts and “whole piece”
c) make all the assets put up for CoArt auctions (as well as those purchased at external auctions) into a common CoArt distributed ledger, accessible to anyone, containing ALL the collection of data on a specific asset, excluding the possibility of its counterfeiting and a double sale in the future.
In conclusion, we would like to note the fact that all the previously mentioned Ecosystem components, such as CoArt Marketplace, CoArt Auction, CoArt Investment Fund and others, are only POCs (Proof of Concept) and do not occupy and do not pretend to have a monopoly or dominant position in the Ecosystem.
These are simple solutions based on the specialized CoArt protocol, which everyone can use to create their own tools as easily as, for example, now can easily create a simple site with the help of WordPress or Wix, but with much more functionality and a range of uses.
We hope that in this short article we have managed to disclose the usefulness of CoArt Ecosystem for the artists themselves, art dealers and gallery owners.
We have set very ambitious goals, so we ask you to support our work. If the idea of a global transformation of the art market inspires you as well as us, connect to the official channels of CoArt in social media and share our articles with your friends.
Together we can make everything much better and faster for the benefit of all!
