Giant screen Artify disrupts the visual arts

At first glance, it is no more than a frame. However, Artify hides much more than that. Designed as a frame, it is a giant digital screen that allows viewing of artwork, saved digitally on a cloud system. It has been created by the French startup of the same name, to put technology at the service of art.

What is Artify?

Artify saw the day when two Parisian businessmen, Simon Cau and Christophe Roux, met through the alumni network of their school of commerce. While Simon Cau has a strong experience in the world of art, managing an art gallery for five years, Christophe Roux, on his side, climbed the ladder in the consulting and finance sector.

Their meeting brought about an explosion of ideas and the two men finally decided to blend their professional strengths to create Artify, a digital collection of artwork presented on digital screens that could initially be rented out to enterprises and public authorities. If they chose to explore this sector specifically, it is because both of them noted that the visual arts have not known a technological evolution, unlike music and videos. “We wanted to create some sort of society of authors, composers, and music publishers (SACEM) of visual arts,” points out Simon Cau.

The idea was realized in a prototype in 2016 and the collection of artwork started to take form. The businessmen began feeding their database with artworks from national museums in France out of which they have saved numerous artworks in high-quality digital formats.

Proposing a lending library of old and contemporary artworks

After having received a distinction in Digital Tourism in the Seine Valley in June 2017, Artify was given a six month term at Tourism’up, a startup incubation project in Deauville. Soon after, Artify unveiled its proposal which was to constitute a digitized lending library of old and contemporary works.

The businessmen strongly believe that Artify can really enhance the world of visual arts. They affirm that museums have much to gain from their digitized library. “When a museum is digitizing its artworks, it does not generally obtain a value or revenue from that. However, when we are renting out digital versions of the paintings where the subscriber can choose the works he would like to feature, we pay museums a percentage of the subscription fees,” explained Simon Cau and Christophe Roux.

Generating a revenue for museums

The two entrepreneurs are targeting several markets to rent out their digital screens. First of all, the pair plans to approach companies that need to communicate their identity and their values. “We can perfectly imagine artworks representing the “Planches” or the beach embellishing a large hotel in Deauville, one after another,” emphasize the businessmen. The entrepreneurs are also of the opinion that there are patrons who would love to showcase their collections or sponsor the productions of local artists. Tourism offices and public authorities would also be interested in Artify.

In Deauville, for example, Artify has set up a digital screen presenting works by André Hamburg. At the American Film Festival, the digital painting featured a few works by Hamburg and photographs of Deauville by the Séeberger brothers, dating back to the 1930s.

h/t: Ouest France
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