Digital ARTvertising: Digital Signage as ART

Posted By Nate ~ 6th July 2011

An old roommate of mine runs an art dealership for commercial art distribution and installation. His gig essentially is to provide art for new and remodeled buildings. When a company is putting together a new complex, they find out what type of art would work well, contract with interior designers and suggest the company purchase art from their vast warehouse of art. They have everything from van Gogh to Picasso. He inherited/purchased (a little bit of both) the company and its associated assets from his step father. It was a very niche, very interesting business and since I was roommates with him, I had the chance to pick his brain extensively about “how” thing s were done.

He mentioned offhandedly about how his industry may be moving more toward the digital age by utilizing LCD televisions to push specific art to displays of their choosing. It was a novel idea at the time–which was several years ago now. Now, the idea strikes me as something that must be done. Commercial art dealers looking to set themselves and their company apart from all the other niche companies may well realize that digital signage is the direction art is eventually headed.

Artvertising?

Most true “artists” would probably find it absolutely appalling to even suggest that such a network of screens could be used to feed advertisements to customers and passers-by, but it is certainly a suggestion worth looking into. Dynamic digital displays used solely for the purpose of art could seem a bit like a waste. Where there is money to be made, someone will be there to tap into the opportunity.

Let me paint a picture or give a bit of a scenario here. An LCD or laser phosphor display is mounted in a waiting room, elevator, hallway, or other high-traffic location within a commercial office building. About 80% of the content coming to that display is simply art. You might see Michaelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, or Raphael’s (shameful plug for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) paintings rotating through a loop on display. The remaining 20% of the time there could be public service announcements, event calendars, and of course even advertisements. If the digital sign company and art company were too averse to utilizing an actual artvertisement, they could use it for general information awareness. But why not use the space? Because of the rights to certain types of art (bear in mind, all art is not simply paintings), sometimes it would even be cheaper and much more beneficial to install an LCD advertising screen. This could be true for several reasons:

  • It is generally easier and also cheaper to get digital rights to paintings than it is the rights to an actual print
  • You can use the same print on multiple screens on a loop–giving you the chance to see Da Vinci and Van Eyck in the same 30 second loop
  • You can intersperse the art with other meaningful, related, and important content

There are a few instances where digital artvertising is working wonders for folks who already install art in commercial buildings. For those in digital signage, this is simply another targetable niche in which you can sell wares and push product–in case you were running out of niches already :)