FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Entertainment

Could FRAMED* Be The Answer To The Digital Arts Market?

A new display screen for digital art promises to “expand the new media art market.” Color us intrigued.

It’s no secret that the digital arts—works that are interactive and generative, come in the form of web apps, net art, motion graphics and video—are routinely overlooked by gallerists and curators. The reason being these works have yet to find their place in the art market and aren’t as sellable or accessible as the established, traditional forms of painting, sculpture and works on paper. They’re a gamble for gallerists to take on, are difficult to move and display, and the logistics of installing, maintaining and caring for them still requires some technical knowledge (which tends to strike fear in the hearts of most arts professionals). In short, they’re kind of a pain in the ass.

FRAMED* is a device that promises to change all that. Conceptualized by Yugo Nakamura of tha ltd and developed in collaboration with Yoshihiro Saitoh and Om, Inc., FRAMED* is “a new platform for digital art.” At first glance, it looks like your average 40" HDTV screen hung vertically on a wall, but it also features a self-contained computer powered by a Intel Core i5 processor and Windows 7, which seamlessly supports Processing, OpenFrameworks, Cinder and even Flash. Built-in WiFi connects the digital frame to a dedicated iPhone app where users can purchase works for display and control the interactive pieces (as seen in the video above). The screen also features a built-in camera and microphone to support various kinds of interaction. The first batch of artists includes work from some top notch names we love like Universal Everything, Flight 404, and Theo Watson.

While the device itself is hardly revolutionary—if anything, it feels so obvious we can hardly believe it’s taken this long for something like this to hit the market—the potential for radically reinventing the digital distribution of both new media and traditional artworks makes it an exciting innovation. Being able to purchase works from the iPhone app controller and instantly port them over to your display screen makes the process of buying art as easy and efficient as buying iPhone apps or iTunes tracks. (We just hope the creators have set up a proper rev share model with the artists).

Though FRAMED* is designed specifically to support digital works and is geared towards the new media art community, we also think the device could be an interesting complement to the rash of “Netflix for art” start-ups we’ve seen crop up lately. Sites like Artsicle and Turning Art, which allow users to rent paintings and prints before purchasing, could similarly use the screen as a way for potential customers to “test drive” works before making the full commitment and investment.

Will FRAMED* help “expand the new media art market” as the site so optimistically promises? That remains to be seen, but the outlook is promising.