A shared platform for art
The Digital Visual Art House is a shared platform for art brings together a wide range of exhibitions and events by Finnish artists on a single platform.
The Digital Visual Art House is a shared platform for art and communication for the Visual Art House and its member organisations. A common desire of the Visual Art House and its member organisations has been to bring art closer to audiences, and this became the main focus of the Digital House.
In addition to the digital platform, the project has developed collaborative and future-oriented activities, such as the conditions for a centralised digital exhibition and art brokerage service. The development work has involved the member organisations of the Finnish Art Gallery network and artists. The Digital House of Fine Arts has been built with a special grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the EU’s Next Generation programme. The Cultural and Creative Industries Building Support promotes the renewal and digitalisation of cultural and creative industries services, production and operating models.
The Digital Visual Art House vision
Futurice, an innovation and technology company, was chosen as the partner for the Digital Art House from design to production. The collaboration with Futurice has included service design, technical design and production of the Digital House.
The collaboration started with workshops that were the basis for the design of the digital House. The aim of the series of workshops was to understand and prioritise the needs, implementation and content of the digital platform. The workshops were attended by staff, board members and artists from Visual Art House and its member organisations. The workshops resulted in the creation of a vision for the Digital House.
Alongside the development of the Digital House, a brand strategy and identity for the entire Visual Art House was developed by the brand agency N2 Albiino. The core idea of the brand identity is to bring art to the centre, to appeal to a wide range of audiences and to build the Visual Art House phenomenon. The Digital House is the first manifestation of the brand. The development of the brand identity has taken into account the requirements of the digital environment in addition to the physical spaces.
The vision and branding for the entire building continued the concept and strategy work for the Visual Art House that started in spring 2023 with the help of Poem.Company. Together, these work phases will determine the direction of Visual Art House and Digital House’s activities.
The launch and the plans for the future
As the location of the physical Visual Art House is yet to be resolved, the Digital House will mediate the whole concept of the project and build the brand awareness. From the outset, there has been a clear shared ambition to bring art closer to audiences, and this became the main focus of the digital Visual Art House. In practise this means presenting and communicating art online in a user-centred way. The appeal of the Digital Visual Art House is based on quality content. As such, its reputation is built by creating engaging, experiential, discussion-provoking, high-quality artistic content.
The Visual Art House is a comprehensive representation of the Finnish visual arts scene, bringing together the diverse artistic content created by its members and their artists. The content can be roughly divided into the following themes: exhibitions, events, artists and artistry, and the artist’s professional information content. The content of the Digital Visual Art House already reflects the collaborative nature of the practice, with for example webinars and events being co-produced.
In the first phase, the Digital Visual Art House will have a calendar of exhibitions, openings and events, which will easily bring together the content of all members in one place for different audiences. The platform will also feature services and content for professionals in the form of training webinars, a peer mentoring programme and topical articles. Online events and hybrid events with recordings will allow everyone to participate and bring art closer to those who cannot get to the physical venue.
Presenting and communicating art online has been at the heart of Digital House’s design, but unfortunately these features cannot be lauched yet. In the first phase of the launch, the Digital Visual Art House will focus on bringing exhibitions and events from all member galleries and organisations together in a single calendar. The exhibitions are not yet available in digital format, as there are not enough resources. Political decisions resulting in extensive budget cuts in the cultural sector and in the field of associations in addition to the tax authorities’ attitude towards online art sales have affected the initial scope of the online service from the original plan.
Online art sales
Based on the vision and the development work, the Digital Visual Art House has been built with ready-made functionalities for the presentation and communication of art, which can be implemented in the future. The development work has paid particular attention to customer experience and purchasing paths. Once the online shop can be implemented, the centralised and modern delivery of art will be in the common interest of all member organisations. However, the Digital Art Gallery is not intended to replace gallery activities at any stage, but to serve as a new platform for art, both nationally and internationally. The galleries will continue to operate in their own spaces, but the future physical Visual Art House will bring exhibition spaces and other services under one roof. In addition, the Digital House will facilitate art sales under one site in the future.