The world of art is rapidly evolving in incredible ways. The exploding popularity of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) has created a new landscape of opportunity for artists, collectors, curators, and galleries, but the only way to fully capitalize on these changes is to embrace the potential of digital artwork.
Aorist: Blurring the Boundaries of Art and Technology
Aorist, a forward-thinking art institute targeted at the next generation of artists and collectors, is at the forefront of a movement that not only accepts the merging of art and technology but also propels it forward. With millions of dollars in sales in the company's first year, Aorist is clearly succeeding in its vision of promoting innovative digital artists to prominent collectors around the world.
The modern art market consists of traditional galleries and auction houses as well as digital marketplaces, neither of which can offer the fully immersive experience that digital art makes possible. Aorist saw the need to attract artists and audiences in new ways and has developed a cultural institute that goes far beyond the standard art sale. They accomplish this by commissioning artists to create new projects that test the limits of art as the world has known it. As Chief Operating Officer Vicent Bustamante explains, "Aorist works with artists to conceive truly unique and avant-garde works that have never been seen before."
Since its launch, Aorist has sought ways to bring digital art into the physical space. At its launch, the brand developed a decentralized exhibit that included physical installations to make digital artwork a more interactive, social, and engaging experience. Among these was a 70-foot digital screen placed on the beach to display the artwork of noted digital artist Refik Anadol. With stunning bursts of color, Anadol’s work, which was based on millions of photographs of underwater corals, enhanced and built upon the beauty of the surrounding natural environment. Bold artistic endeavors like these are what sets Aorist apart from all other traditional and digital art marketplaces.
The Challenges of Cutting-Edge Artwork
As a cultural institution that is constantly breaking new ground, Aorist met a number of obstacles. When the concept of Aorist was conceived and developed, there was no NFT marketplace that could fully accommodate the unique needs and goals of the brand. The creators of Aorist had a clearly defined mission and were unwilling to accept the limitations of existing platforms. Some of the company's top priorities included:
- Keeping the artwork, rather than the mechanics of the platform, in the spotlight
- Preventing and rapidly correcting technical errors that could interfere with a buyer's experience
- Allowing buyers to make purchases with stable currency
- Promoting an environmentally conscious platform for digital artwork
For Aorist, it was crucial to meet the needs of everyone involved in a digital art transaction. This meant providing artists with the best possible platform for their work, allowing collectors to view, purchase, and enjoy works to their full potential, and creating opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration with other art organizations. It was simply impossible to satisfy all of these principles without creativity and an innovative and adaptable technology solution. In short, Aorist needed a platform developed with its specific goals in mind.
Building a Better Platform for Digital Art
Rather than backing away from the challenging aspects of their vision, the team at Aorist welcomed the chance to establish a new means of exhibiting and selling digital artwork. They ultimately overcame these hurdles by partnering with Anterdit and addressing each of them with direct and tailored solutions.
Bringing Art to the Forefront
Aorist's most significant goal was also one of its greatest challenges: creating a platform that would meet all the technical requirements and user needs while fading into the background of their experience. Art buyers, in Aorist's view, should not have to think about the process of making a purchase. Rather, their focus should be placed entirely on the artwork itself.
"Anterdit understood from the start that the focus had to be on the art," says Bustamante. "Payment is seamless. People don't have to think about what they're doing when they're making a payment for one of our works." By creating a smooth and efficient user experience, Anterdit allowed the true stars of Aorist, the artists, to shine. Customers are able to make safe and secure purchases without becoming distracted by the mechanics of the platform.
Shouldering Technology Concerns
In addition to building a stress-free buying experience for users, Aorist also wants to continue to grow and diversify its repertoire of artists and collectors. In order to do this, the company must keep its full attention where it really matters and commission original works from emerging and established artists, collaborate with art institutes and galleries, and identify new collectors across the globe. As an added benefit of the partnership with Anterdit, Aorist has been able to offload any and all anxieties about the technological aspects of the platform. As Bustamante explains, "Anterdit worries for us." With its range of features, Anterdit can effectively manage concerns about processing payments or handling fraud, and thus keep the platform running, without pulling the team at Aorist away from their central focus.
Utilizing Stable Currency
Aorist believes that the value of artwork should not be determined by fluctuations in the value of cryptocurrency. The price of a particular work of art should be influenced by exposure, exhibitions, and critical acclaim rather than the rise or fall of a currency’s value. For that reason, it is essential that NFT purchases on their marketplace can be made using a stable form of currency. To meet this need and improve the customer experience, Anterdit built functionality into the platform so that customers could make purchases using USDC (USD coin), which is a digital currency that is directly tied to the dollar. Buyers who make digital art purchases through Aorist can rest assured that the value of their collection is not contingent on a currency's constantly shifting value.
Advocating an Eco-Conscious Mindset
For Aorist, creating an eco-friendly digital art institute was a deal-breaker. Many blockchain technologies are responsible for massive carbon emissions, and Aorist was unwilling to build its platform on such a system. The brand is dedicated to bringing beautiful artwork to the world without polluting it in the process. From this perspective, working with Anterdit was a natural choice. "Anterdit is very much focused on working with Algorand, a carbon-neutral blockchain," Bustamante says. "We want to leave the world a better place through our artwork . . . to not have any part of our mission taking away from the world." Aorist and Anterdit have a shared vision of protecting the planet from pollution while also exploring new technological possibilities, and building a marketplace on Alogrand has allowed them to meet that goal.
Success from the Start
Aorist launched its online marketplace in 2021 to immediate success. Within an hour of going live, Aorist had more thanf 1,000 transactions. By the end of the second hour, the company had already reached $2 million in sales. This pattern of achievement continued over Aorist's first 10 months. During that time, the company:
- Commissioned 20 major projects
- Minted 1,500 artworks
- Welcomed more than 200,000 visitors
- Reached $5 million in sales
Beyond the numbers, Aorist has held acclaimed exhibitions in both Miami, Florida, and Venice, Italy. It has also focused on collaborating with complementary art institutes and programs, including the world-renowned auction house Christie's, to present groundbreaking new artwork.
The Future of Digital Art
As technology continuously develops, the old limits on artistry fall away and reveal unexpected and intriguing creative techniques. The work of artist Jonas Lund is an excellent example of what is possible for Aorist and digital artists when the correct foundation is in place. In his MVP series, Lund created hundreds of art pieces that evolve based on public perception. When an MVP is sold, the remaining works can learn from the design qualities of the work and adapt to incorporate these more desirable traits.
“This, of course, is something that no platform has ever supported,” Bustamante says. “Anterdit worked with Aorist to design the interfaces between Jonas's development so that the marketplace would facilitate the payments [and] the minting of the NFTs" while also “allowing the artist to have full flexibility in how he designed that artwork.” With access to a customizable platform from Anterdit, Aorist can continue to build new relationships with artists who are experimenting with the relationship between technology and art.
Moving forward, Aorist will continue to seek out, work with, and encourage artists who are exploring entirely new artistic territory through aura, environment, time, the bridge between physical and digital realms, and co-creation. In this way, they will redefine the art market and expose a broadened audience of collectors and buyers to the power and beauty of digital art.
Customized NFT Marketplaces from Anterdit
There are numerous features available through Anterdit that make life easier for businesses and their customers. From minting assets to managing release schedules and processing payments, Anterdit can optimize an NFT platform to do it all. Whether a business sells art, collectibles, ownership certificates, tickets, utility tokens, historical assets, digitized merchandise, or loyalty programs, Anterdit has the expertise to build a marketplace that emphasizes the value of digital assets and simplifies the buying process. These marketplaces are also built on Alogrand, a cost-effective and eco-friendly blockchain that maintains speed and efficiency while also promoting the protection of the environment.
Anterdit specializes in creating customized NFT marketplaces for cultural institutions like Aorist and organizations in many other industries, including sports, music, media and publications, and lifestyle brands. The NFT experts at Anterdit build customer-friendly platforms that offer the highest level of privacy and security. Most importantly, they are dedicated to meeting the needs and building the reputation of every brand partner. As Bustamante explains, "The most important reason why you go with Anterdit is because you want your marketplace and your NFTs to exist within your brand."
Reach out to Anterdit to book a demo or learn more about the ways that an NFT marketplace can expand a business's customer base and increase sales in the modern world.
