ART+COM is a design firm working with new media on commercial/brand projects for many enterprise level corporations. Brands are slowly tapping into the world of art, and they look very cool. It is not easy for brands to tap into the art market since brands are usually viewed negatively in the world of art. Big corporations, part of crony capitalism; fat cats getting rich on wall street, are a few of the common stereotypes that corporations have to deal with in the art world. That is why big brands have to approach installation art, or any kind of art, for that matter, in a very careful manner. Their art can easily be wrongly perceived by art critics and general public because it is susceptible in being viewed too promotional, too imposing or what have you. So when done right, it can be inspiring and work wonders for the brand. Corporations such as BMW, Nike and Coca Cola have been doing this effectively because they give rise to new artists especially those working with new media and also display or install their art in the world renowned events such as World Cup and Olympics. I have also seen some interesting brand art installations at various trade shows such as CES, CTIA, and CeBIT that I had an opportunity to visit over the years.
At the BMW Museum in Munich, the Kinetic Sculpture consisting of 714 metal orbs is floating in space. The orbs actually hang on very thin wires attached to individual motors. The orbs move chaotically and produce different artistic forms such as magic carpet, a 3d silhouette of a classic car and others, in a seven minute cycle. ART+COM calls it a “metaphorical translation of the process of form-finding in art and design.”
Watch the video below to see what I’m talking about:
ART+COM is almost like a design / engineering firm, because their art looks very polished, clean, and complete so to speak, and it is no doubt because they employ media artists and designers, software developers, media technicians and engineers, communication and product designers, scientists and project managers. Normally you would think that bunch of artists and designers is all you need to produce award winning results, but that is not true…at least not true when it comes to working with new media, where college level knowledge and expertise is required.
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