Shazam for Art - Why Magnus is a GREAT App and Why the art world HATES it!
I’ve been thinking about writing about this very cool app for a couple of weeks… Until I learnt recently that it has been BANNED in App store!!
And now I want to tell you about it even more :)
This time it’s the app that I have been using myself for several months - Magnus.
As you might have guessed from the heading, the idea is that you can search the artworks with their image pretty much like you are searching for the songs in Shazam.
But what’s that special about this app, that the whole market got so upset about it??
It might not even be clear from the first sight as to why you may need this app at all - the information about the artwork is usually available in the place where you are seeing it. Being it the museum or the private gallery, they are always willing to provide you with the artist’s name and some background behind the painting.
The fun comes here - the app creator Magnus Resch introduced the prices of the artworks into the app.
Let me include his picture here, as apart from creating this cool app, he is also very handsome:)
“We believe that transparency is good for the art world. Magnus will help it to grow, both by attracting new collectors and by giving existing buyers a tool at their fingertips to enjoy art even more.”
And here where comes the trouble - the art world is VERY non-transparent by its nature. I can’t name any other legal market where you can hardly get any data about the pricing and parties involved in the transactions.
Obviously, the galleries, who are keen about keeping the prices secret, are mad about it…
So here’s how the app works - you scan the artwork and it gives you the data about its latest auction prices.
Let me show you an example. I am a fan of Alex Katz’s paintings, I spot them at every art fair or exhibition. I am dreaming to purchase one for myself one day, but with the help of the Magnus app I know this will not happen too soon:)
And I believe it’s very curious even if you are just slightly interested in art!
Imagine looking at some two-colors geometric canvas in a museum and knowing in a second that it was auctioned couple of years ago for a 7-digit number (like this Barnett Newman for $43.8m in 2013)?
Wouldn’t it be more fun for you to explore arts that way?
I am sure it will, but probably not very soon (unless you already have Magnus installed). Three galleries have filed suits against Magnus for unauthorized usage of their images… And the app is removed from the App Store.
Here is the tweet of the app’s founder
I hope it comes back.
Have a great day, Steemers! And love art :)
Good to see such initiative made to disrupt the artwork. I have a side project I would like to make it real one day. My goal is to make art easy to consume and even better, provide an easy place where artist can live by selling their creations freely (AI will be the best tool to make it happen). Galleries are normally an elitist ambient and there is a huge number of potencial consumers that do not feel comfortable to go out to buy art from this places.
Plus I believe the original artwork, made by hand, paint, canvas is been neglected relate to digital creations (Witch are beautiful and has quality too, but more easy to replicate and sell it cheaper in big volumes).
This was just a proof of concept I've made http://arteiro.co and it proved to me that people want better solutions to buy art.
Check it out my pitch (https://angel.co/arteiro) and if would like to talk about the art market and so on let me know.
I like the concept of your project! I believe there is a high demand in the art market to make it more open and available for the larger audience to participate.
There is another app called Wydr that I have posted about before, they have a similar concept of making art available for everyone. But the interface is different, very similar to Tinder.
“Art Galleries are for the 1%, wydr for the 99%." - that's their slogan.
You might be interested in contacting the developers, there can be areas for collaboration.
And it can be very useful for you to do a pitch at the art fairs. There are a lot of gallerists and collectors there, but also a large crowd of distant art lovers.
I will be in Art Basel in Miami this December, would be great to see your project there!
Where are you based, by the way?
I can present your project to couple of people in the artworld, but it would be great to meet and discuss in more details before that
Hey @katyakov ! I'm from and live in Brazil :/
I saw the Wydr app the other day and I tough it is incredible but they still need to make it more appealing to the consumer! I believe consumers are lazy. Most of what platforms brings (include Arteiro the way it is today) it's just a huge list of content to scroll, scroll causing anxiety for someone who is there to pick only one art to his place. Instead, would be better if I could post a picture of my room and select some artists that have a similar taste to mine to be notified and ask them to send me suggestions to that room.
Anyway, I have good ideas and passion for art but not so good connections in this world. Would be nice to have an Skype conversation anytime.
That's an interesting idea to be able to ask the artists for their advice for a particular interior.
Give me your Skype address and we can talk later this week. My Wed-Thu are pretty packed, but Fri will work fine!
Great! Search for me there as dudutaulois .
Friday is the only day I can't. What about Monday?
I've sent you a contact request on Skype - Monday works for me too!
This sounds epic. bit irritating its been taken off the app store though
Yep.. But as I already have it installed, it works!
Is it really efficient and operational?