Tech is Misfiring for Art. Why?

About Me: Christina Noren• Successful Silicon Valley Product Executive; 3

IPOs in 20+ years• Founding head of product for Splunk, 2012

$3+ billion big data IPO• Founded two art tech platforms: Aura 2014;

Artloop 1999-2001• Currently CPO @ Interana; Behavioral

Analytics Leader• Former exhibiting artist and modest

collector

20 years of Art Platforms

$100s of Millions Invested

Where is the Uber for Art?

•That unlocks massive new demand•That takes the market from

elite to mainstream•That connects any rider to

any driver

Artnet•a place to dump your

unsold inventory•where to pay through the

nose for hard to navigate auction price data

Artsy• a place to find art that will

make you seem hip & successful that will cost a lot less than your M Series BMW • some cool parties• a cheap online gallery

presence tool

1stDibs•a really nice place for rich

people to shop for things that will make them seem cultured and artistic •oh, and a few paintings and

sculptures

Electric Objects,Klio,Depict….

•Bill Gates saw it all in 1984

Artfinder,Saatchi Online,PicassoMio,…

•Won’t that look great over your couch?

Instagram•Reducing art to eye candy +

online personality, one feed at a time.

Art Doesn’t Get Tech •A $20 million business is big

•Hi tech= slick UI•Millennials only want to see art

online•Database = rigid taxonomy• Social = likes and loves• Every brand needs an app•Online = ads & e-commerce

Tech REALLY Doesn’t Get Art

• Art = images• Art is a luxury good • Art is a financial investment• Art is more elitist than music• All art fits in agreed categories

with fixed attributes• There is a master database of art

somewhere

And Tech Has Contempt for Art

•Techies are the real creatives of our age •Artists are not-too-bright

makers of pretty pictures•Art dealers are small

business people - like florists

What Will The Real Disruptor

Look Like? A few thoughts

It Will Be Valuable to All Art Interested People

• A companion for art visits• A resource for learning and

reference• Valuable to experts & novices• Not focused on buying or selling• Knows both market &

scholarship• Building a loyal audience

It Will Grow Its Own Art Database

•Not limited to listings•Organically learns all aspects of

art through daily use in all venues and situations•Discovers forgotten, unknown

and hidden art•Makes connections between

different artists and artworks

It Won’t Dumb Down the Art

• User extensible model for describing art• Can be as superficial or deep as a user

wants to go• Can deal with context, content, form

& sensation• Multiple viewpoints; expert & popular

side by side• Filtering, ranking, reputation & context

It Will Convert Non-Buyers

• Leads people from what they have seen (even in museums) to what they can afford to buy• Gets smart about its users’

interests & budgets way before they buy•Makes buying easy and fun• Buyers will be more loyal to it than

any seller

It Won’t Be Biased Or Limited

•No paid listings or advertising• Can lead any buyer to any art:• Represented & unrepresented• Existing & commissioned• For sale & passive• Online, gallery, auction, fair &

private

What Will It Take? •A thesis-driven deep-pocketed

investor•A willingness to invest in audience

& content in advance of revenues• Knowledge to seed & curate a

workable art model• Cutting edge data science, social

& UX technology

What Will Its Impact Be?

• 10s of millions of new art buyers• Demand spreading to “long tail”

of undiscovered and forgotten art• Reversal of trend to the image• Creation of the largest single

global art market player ever seen• Disruption to existing business

models