WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?
HB It will probably start with the art world. But yesterday I was in HSBC and I couldn’t help notice the person in front of me had an image of Hirst’s diamond skull on her phone. I asked where she got it and she said off the internet and I told her that Damien has just done some limited edition artworks for your iPad. She’s now joined up for s[edition]. So without us doing anything people are already engaging with the philosophy of it and don’t have anywhere to go right now; or didn’t until we launched s[edition].
WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF ART ONLINE?
RN We’ve seen a terrific response to the launch of s[edition]. For the first time people are able to collect works of art by the likes of Mat Collishaw, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin at prices that are incredibly affordable and accessible and therefore we hope that we will have more collectors of these artists.
WILL IT CHANGE THE WAY ARTISTS WORK?
RN It’s just another opportunity for artists to
have their works collected by new audiences. HB Some artists have spent their entire career in the digital domain so we’re not doing anything new we’re just opening the door. The people that will benefit the most from this are the artists. There will always be a demand for physical work as well. This transcends any geographical boundary, theres’s no shipping, your work’s not going to get damaged in transit. You are buying what you see in front of you and you get it immediately.
HOW DOES THE CREATIVE PROCESS WORK?
RN Artists can choose to work with us in a variety of ways. They can send us the finished product or access our digital studio free of charge and instruct our producers to work with them to bring their art to life. Some of the sculptural work by Emin (the neon writing) was actually done through our studio. She was guiding us in the way the writing should work and the speed it should appear. An artist may also choose to use their own digital technicians and provide us with a work that we can then edition and sell through s[edition].
