Source: Noenga Art Magazine
Written by: Misha Stoutenbeek
At Noenga, December is a month for reflection. A moment to look back and analyze the art landscape internationally ‘both online and offline’ and to draw conclusions. With those conclusions we try to look forward and serve our community. This year we publish an article like non before.
This year we call for action and reach out to inspire artists worldwide!
Short flashback - 2009
After many years of active research, analysis and interviewing independent experts internationally our conclusions were not the most optimistic:
* Selling art online has low potential and low ROI (return on investment).
* Art through social media is BIG but the art market through social media is still small.
Note: This conclusion is based on research from the period 2006 to 2009.
The discussion after
From the comments and reactions to the article mentioned above, we analysed about 500 of them. From the reactions coming from artists, roughly 85% agreed with our conclusions to a very high extent, while in the reactions coming from art market professionals (online marketers, consultants, agents, social media consultants, managers, online gallery owners etc.) 80% strongly disagreed with the conclusions. This was not a surprise to us since selling the illusion of successful/easy online selling is their core business.Their claim was that ’’even though our article had some strong points, they do know how to get the job done.’’
‘’That indeed selling art online can be difficult, and that's exactly why the intermediaries are so important and necessary.’’
This was the opposite of the effect we were hoping for by publishing our article.
So to those who disagreed with the conclusions we sent an invitation to prove us wrong, promising we would openly publish a promotional article about their business and successful online art sales results with the only requirement being the names of the artist would also have to be mentioned.
Wouldn’t that have been great marketing for these businesses?
Well, out of around 50 invitations we have not had one reply!
Again, that was not a surprise. That is because not one had figures they would really like to show to everybody.
Why so honest
It surprises many people that as an online art community we speak so openly about these negative online tendencies. Several online art galleries asked us why and if it would not be better to be more quiet about it.
So why do we write about it? Well, basically because we passionately try to prevent the online art world ending up the same way as the traditional one. And that is, being an extension of the corrupt global monetary economy system and industrial complex which has hijacked the arts. This has caused a situation in which a hand full of people selling smoke and mirrors makes huge profits out of less than 1% of the artists worldwide, while leaving the big talented majority in the dark.
This has to be prevented for the love of art and for the sake of mankind.
At the beginning of the 21st century, we NOW have a unique opportunity in the history of time to actually change the world of arts. Together as one we can square up to this elite interference, open up the art-world and bring it back to its pure essence. I envision a new art market model driven by Internet technology, in which the artist reaches out to the public directly without interference or obstacles of any kind.
Discussing the ideal online art platform
Through the years in our LinkedIn and Facebook groups, pages and emails correspondence we’ve had many feedback and discussion on how the ideal online platform would look like and how to turn an art social network into a successful art market platform.
We have summarized all the feedback for which we are very grateful, and it leads to a model in which artists, art-lovers, but most of all the traditional art industry (high end galleries, curators, museums, auction houses, collectors, art publishers etc.) are being brought together.
Apparently, the majority of artists believes that one can only make a living out of art if those organizations are involved. I strongly disagree with that… I think online art sales results are so bad because the traditional art industry is still too involved! The online art market nowadays is nothing more than a digital copy of the physical art market with this difference, that it does not focus on a small wealthy group of buyers but on the masses. We are using old fashioned sales models that worked for different target groups in the past, which are now in a digital form for a new generation of art-lover.
What does the traditional art industry even know about this new generation? They claim so much knowledge but what do they even now about how people look at the art world nowadays? Ask any regular person on the street or 19 year old about how he or she thinks about art and most probably they will include a vomiting gesture mentioning remembering the last work they saw in a newspaper that became sold for many millions of dollars. Also they will probably add that a 10 year old could have made that work. People don’t care anymore. They became punch drunk over art, because out of the last 50 news articles they saw about art, 43 where talked about extreme money. When in a group of people an artists is being asked, ‘what do you do?’ and he or she answers ‘I am an artist’, probably the first next question is ‘Huh? Can you make a living out of that?’. If the artist has to respond no or hesitating to that, the group will most probably not take it very seriously. With prices like we have seen over the past decades art became admired not for its quality but for its price. The free art market players became the new arbitrators of taste. The free market and speculation, unfortunately, has redefined art and the price of a work has become part of its function.
That is the result of a corrupt system. A system that has to be taken down to the ground to free the universal creative spirit in which we are all unified. You are not an artist because you sell or not, you are an artist because you are a creative soul.
Honestly I don’t believe in a model in which the traditional art industry is included. I see them as the root of the failure of the online art market. Sticking to their models in a new era we slow down innovation and progress.
Besides that we found a complete lack of willingness among the traditional art industry (internationally) to actively participate on such a unifying platform. We have had talks all over the world with art organizations from top to bottom. What we found is that an overwhelming majority of them a) did not have a clue where we were talking about (social media? Huhhh, we already have a website) or b) when our concepts did not directly answer their question 'how is that profitable for me?', they directly lost all interest.
We found a general disinterest towards creating an open platform where young, unknown and emerging artists get a chance to reach out.
Secondly we saw a huge lack of strategic, and long term vision about how Internet and digital technologies are affecting the art world. They saw threads instead of opportunities because these changes are not in their interest. The art market establishment does not want things to improve or to change. The Internet has never been really welcome. They want things to stay the same. To make profits like there is no tomorrow.
The traditional art world
A good and dramatic example of the above is the following. Not as Noenga, but on a personal basis, I had ongoing talks with the director of a major Museum in Amsterdam which struggles with its amount of annual visitors. When I gently mentioned how innovating their online presence through social media technology (by participating and adding value to the online conversation) could have a positive effect on reaching younger generations, spreading awareness and the museum as a whole, they made firmly clear that their interest is not a ‘flashy website’ but to ‘sell more tickets’.
Regarding the fact that I was not talking about a flashy website this was an extremely short sighted comment that one would not expect on this level. I was shocked.
If we would have been talking about websites however, I could have told him that Noenga.com has got more monthly visitors then any physical museum in the world. With this difference that our visitors figures are fast rising but I did not bother to mention that. I mean what’s the point even if you are talking with people with such a vision about things.
It was depressing.
I predict museums will slowly fade away in the coming 25 years. Why shouldn’t they? After all, the museum as an institute has only existed for a little longer than 200 years. I don’t see how relying on walls, entry tickets and old fashion marketing techniques they can remain in the era of the digital revolution. Many of them are in need of funding and on top of that find difficulties obtaining content because they have to compete with hedge funds and oligarchs in the international art market.
I mean, isn’t it already over with the Louvre that opened a McDonalds ‘restaurant’ in its museum late 2009 and sold its name to be used by Abu Dhabi.
Many entrances of large American and European museums, nowadays show impressive walls with the names of their funders but actually lack the names of the true founders.
Personally I think that Robert Hughes, with his - The Mona Lisa Curse – (Winner of the 2009
Grierson Award for Best Documentary on the Arts) did a great job in making a statement where the traditional art world now finds itself. Watch on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbQ0GqX0ItsThese are sad developments but let’s not be too depressed about it… I mean, what did the high-end traditional art world ever do for the millions of talents and art-lovers out there? What did they really do in terms of support, education, creating opportunities and stimulating talent all over the world. Why is art still one of the most unregulated markets in the world?
In the regular gallery/museum-world a select group of curators and the like determines what is art and what is not. They decide what the people may see and buy. This is ok when it concerns historical cultural heritage. When it concerns art however, these curators are self-appointed authorities, limiting the opportunities for many artists. Talking even more idealistically, one could argue that historical cultural heritage should not be locked up behind walls and entry tickets at all but should be part of the public domain.
Why is it that hardly 1% of the artists can make a living out of their work while massive profits are being made by the auction houses, investors and collectors? Houses like Christies and Sotheby’s have sold over tens of billions of dollars of poor quality art. Why is it that for example in Spain, most big exhibitions are now being organized by big banks? Many banks stepped into the game of company art collections taking things even further out of balance. Why is it that art publishers only pay a couple of percent of royalties to their signed artists while huge trade volumes are being made?
Art is the only market (along with drugs) without any form of regulation.
The documentary - The Great Contemporary Art Bubble - by Ben Lewis shows brilliantly how this market works and to where it is heading. A must see for anyone interested in the topic. The trailer can be seen by following this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gth8_3msnIkMoving forward – A new era
Including the art industry, traditional art world and market in new online concepts would create a new wall between the creators and the public. Every attempt to include this old fashioned establishment in the online art world, would be like inventing a digital version of what already is. There is no leap forward in that!
Wake up call
Artists and art-lovers worldwide please wake up, stand up, realize the present art market systems keep the global art community poor and imprisoned. If we start a discussion about how online art should evolve let’s talk about true innovation instead of keeping those in place that were never capable of bringing the global art community what it really deserves. The true revolution in the art-market would be bringing down the walls of the past and the present. Artists worldwide should be enabled reach out to the public directly. The liberation of the arts!
Such a successful model would make it to the history books of art.
What can an artist do about it?
At this moment in time with the current technologies, every artist should create its own fan base around its own domain! Start your personal website if you can. This is crucial!
Don’t build your online presence based only on third party platforms like Facebook etc. Let your personal website be the centre of it all. This makes you professional, independent and creates confidence amongst your potential buyers (For more practical tips read our article from 2009 – How to sell art online, we will publish a 2011 update soon). Win your audience using a network of let’s say 10 art platforms like Redbubble, Noenga, Deviantart and other heavy traffic channels. Use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn but let ALL of those profiles point to YOUR domain. ‘Use them’ instead of ‘work for them’. Good social media are platform that bring a mutual benefit. A win win situation.
Don’t rely and don’t hope for traditional and/or online art market systems for your wish to be able to make a living out of art. Instead, rely on yourself!
Start tomorrow, use today’s internet technologies to create your own domain. Be your own gallery, your own promoter and create your personal fan base. New technologies are on their way creating huge opportunities for the arts. (Mobile, big screen, 3D, virtual reality technologies will create new dynamics and new ways to display and promote art.) Be ready for that, in time your effort will lead to sales and then you will have your independence!
But be patient, don’t enter the Internet expecting it will lead directly to sales. If some company would approach you online too aggressively you would probably get annoyed. Patience is important, don’t get frustrated. No company was built in one day, and most art galleries often need 2 to 5 years before they start making profits. Think for yourself; let no one tell you your art has got no art market potential. Let the public decide as a whole.
If enough artists do this, the next couple of billion people and next generation of artists that will connect to the internet will take this model as an example. This in time will lead to a new art market model. A model in which the artist reaches out to the public directly and are more independent than ever.
Spread this article among artists and art-lovers world-wide. Let’s start a movement!
Author
Misha Stoutenbeek
Feel free to connect with me on:
Facebook: Misha Stoutenbeek
About Noenga
MISSION STATEMENT Noenga is about using the power of internet technology to innovate and open up the creative world and making artists worldwide achieve their goals. It envisions and aims for new market models in which creators are more independent than ever and reach out to the public directly without interference or obstacles of any kind. Noenga wants to build the infrastructure for these models and truly believes its goals will benefit the universal creative spirit.
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