As everything becomes “digital,” what will happen to art?
I recently heard Jennifer Steckel Elliott of Lagom Collections speak about this phenomenon and ask us to actually think about what art is.
She said art is based on imagination and skill, and is beautiful and expresses emotion.
Some of them show our passion for technology.
As Steckel Elliott spoke about her first job at IBM’s Ogilvy & Mather and her early love affair with data, she led us into a broader perspective into the world of art and AI.
“As business evolves, we are seeing the role of data and outcomes-driven business become more critical in every aspect of our lives,” she said.
By seeing patterns, actionable recommendations can be made, she added.
Citing her own experience, she said that “too many books” can be a problem in the art world. Frankly, digital resources are more portable. When asked if the audience liked reading, she said that she had not been able to read much print media since she had health problems. Now, she said, her company offers an alternative.
“We’ve developed an app that allows us to achieve this in a very simple way,” she said. “Our goal is to enable targeted applications of creative AI.”
The comparative value of digital art was discussed, along with how AI can be an important tool in fine and visual arts.
“Someone who creates with ones and zeros, rather than a paintbrush, isn’t necessarily considered an artist,” she says. “We’re all creating things together to solve problems and use our imagination and skills to add value to people’s lives, and that adds (value) in different ways.”
Regarding resistance, Steckel Elliott suggested that it is human nature to resist change, citing major technological innovations such as the printing press, the digital camera, and the internet.
On employment, he spoke about moving towards having more skilled workers rather than fewer, adding creative value to the economy and tackling unemployment.
“We’re adding jobs,” she said, noting the importance of investing in the foundational layers of these types of projects.
One hurdle? Consumers are also afraid of change.
“Even if we think it’s easy, it’s not that easy for anybody,” she said.
For the rest of the presentation, she showed how strategies like the one Lagom Collections used could transform the sale of things like designer sneakers, artwork, rare coins, and other non-fungible valuables (NFTs maybe?).
Well, here’s a use case they show on their website: you actually create a piece of art that showcases your favorite book, and then you can hang that piece of art on your wall instead of the book itself.
Many people are trying to downsize and reduce clutter, so we think this is not a bad idea. The question is, do you want to be able to take your books off the shelves? This is an interesting one. You might think you are likely to take your books off the shelves, but when you really think back, how often do you actually move the books themselves? If the answer is “never,” then you might need one of these wall hangings.
This is another example of what new technologies are doing to transform our world, so stay tuned as we share more about the many breakthroughs that emerged from our recent conference.
