Arts

PROVOKING THE IMAGINATION

ALEXIS FRANKLIN

Dallas-based artist Alexis Franklin considers her digital renderings a reinvention of the expected. This selftaught artist has created an incredible portfolio of portraits. Inspired by oil artists, Franklin primarily uses digital software like Photoshop to create her digital oil like portrait paintings.

Artists have always sought new art forms and new mediums. They push the envelope in efforts to display their creativity and principles, introducing new materials, new movements, and new forms. It is, therefore, no surprise that technology is impacting the art world in a very big way.

Technology is not challenging but enabling the way in which art is created and shared. Artists now have an expanded access to new audiences who were before not part of the “art world.” But these creatives are not only using technology for the sole purpose of expanding public awareness. They are implementing tech tools as an art and design medium in and of itself, creating immersive and highly engaging art pieces that highlight a new multidisciplinary mixed media.

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT

Since the advent of what we would call modern technology, artists sought to use the medium in their creative spaces. The first attempt to bring together technology and art in the creative process happened in 1967, when a group of New York artists including John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman, and Yvonne Rainer worked with engineers and scientists from the world-renowned Bell Laboratories to create groundbreaking performances incorporating new technology. These first installations and performances promoting the use of technology in creating art set a cornerstone for further digital art development.

Andy Warhol was one of the most influential artists who used modern technology in the forms of video, film and screen printing to make his art more visible and accessible. He was also a pioneer of digital art. In 1985, Warhol created digital drawings on an Amiga computer to advertise the computer system as a brand ambassador for the computer company, Commodore International. His digital art pieces were lost and forgotten until 2014 when they were discovered and recovered by artist Cory Arcangel, a NYC based multimedia artist and Warhol fan. From July 2017 to November 2019, the Warhol Museum exhibited these historic pieces using the original medium – a vintage Amiga.

Of course, the 1990’s saw a boon in technological advancement. The internet started a revolution, and the digital art scene started booming. Many artists leveraged the internet to make their artwork more visible, increasing accessibility to worldwide audiences. The technology also enabled the artist to transform and manipulate their artwork, thus becoming a significant art medium.

The trend in digital art since then has continued on an upward slope, becoming stronger and more defined. Many significant artists now create in the digital space. Advanced technology has allowed unique installations and performances to be staged. In this new art form, names are being made and studies are being staged to record historical accuracy.

DIGITAL ART TAKING SHAPE

Digital Revolution – an art exhibition described in the Times UK as the “landmark show” – incorporated diverse digital art forms mounted all together in an art gallery. It opened at the Barbican in London in 2014 and toured various cities in Europe and Asia through 2019. It was the first big-scale show mounted on digital art and all its tech components.

The goal of the exhibit was to explore and celebrate the transformation of the arts through digital technology since the 1970’s. For the first time, the exhibition brought together a range of artists, filmmakers, architects, designers, musicians, and game developers, all of whom used digital media to push the boundaries of their field.

Shown together, the exhibit exposed the intricate connections among the pieces. The experience was highly engaging in an immersive digital art environment. Images and technological tools created interactions with the art and installation programs.

The installations were diverse. They included everything from Umbrellium’s (an award-winning pioneer in design and urban technology) immersive exhibit that filled the space with a series of interactive laser sculptures and Universal Everything, one of the UK’s leading media art studios, which presented a piece allowing visitors to submit a hand-drawn animated artwork that featured within the gallery.

The exhibition also featured new commissions from global music artist and entrepreneur will.i.am, Yuri Suzuki, Pasha Shapiro and Ernst Weber and new work from a range of established artists and performers such as Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Chris Milk, Aaron Koblin, Björk, Amon Tobin, and CuteCircuit. Oscar®-winning visual effects (VFX) supervisor Paul Franklin and his team at Double Negative (who worked on Christopher Nolan’s ground-breaking film Inception) were also involved.

The show also looked to the future and considered the impact of creative coding, DIY and maker-culture, digital communities, and the creative possibilities offered by augmented reality, artificial intelligence, wearable technologies, and 3D printing.

Chris Milk, one of the most prominent digital artists, participated in the Digital Revolution exhibition with his interactive and highly popular project The Treachery of the Sanctuary. The artist used the interaction between spectators and digital birds on panels to explore the agony and ecstasy of a creative process.

The Treachery of the Sanctuary was based on three screens that rose above a black, reflective pool. Visitors stood in front of the first screen and watched as their shadow disintegrated into a flock of flying birds. They then moved to the next screen where they observed the same birds pecking the remnants of their shadow. The final screen showed how the birds form into wings that visitors can move by waving their arms.

Apart from this magnificent, highly interactive, engaging digital art project from Digital Revolution, Milk has started an ongoing art project as an homage to legendary Johnny Cash. His idea is that everyone interested in participating would create a portrait of the “man in black,” and their piece of art will be incorporated into a massive portrait with other people’s artwork.

Chris Milk isn’t the only digital artist that has reached high levels of success in the digital art space. Aaron Koblin and Ben Tricklebank are also well known in the field. Light Echoes – their fascinating art project – used a giant laser beam projector that they placed on the roof of a train moving through California. They then projected various materials, including pieces of poetry, onto the starry night sky and the scenery. These projections left visible “echoes” on the trails, and they were captured by a long exposure. This resulted in an extraordinary multimedia experience that inspired sincere reactions in audiences.

THE FUTURE IS NOW

There is no doubt that technology is transforming the art world and the perception of art. It has given more people access to the arts, giving art enthusiasts and collectors platforms to build their art collection and share with others. Technologies and social media have also revolutionized the traditional art scene by allowing people to express their deepest emotions and beliefs through interactive and pieces and projects.

From AI (Artificial Intelligence), VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) to digital designs and 3D printers, technologies and social media have disrupted the contemporary art and art market in many different ways. It has changed how art is created, consumed and shared in our connected world. And as technology becomes more precise and universally available – the sky is the limit in how artists will incorporate it.

Once Upon a Time

There Lived a King Called Cash

By Naushad Contractor

Once upon a time, there lived a king called “Big Cash.” In his kingdom reigned physical princes – banknotes, gold and silver. The Big Cash dynasty continued uninterrupted for centuries. Until recently when a new young prince emerged – digital. Unlike his ancestors, this ambitious prince expanded his dynasty quickly and brought to life a new baby – crypto.

In dynasties throughout history, destabilization occurs. People who live in the kingdom desire something new, something better, a new way of doing things. In our era, things such as “Demon”itization, the Coronavirus, and the mobile phone have all impacted the way people use money. And they have all contributed to making digital currency popular and powerful, upsetting the traditional big cash reign, and making digital currency more widely understood and used.

Mobile wallets are replacing cash. People can now choose from multiple payments methods at their convenience. The use of digital currency is fast and simple. Ask yourself, “When was the last time I went to a bank branch?” or “When was the last time I issued a check?” Aside from traditional banking, the digital currency and FinTech (Financial Technology) space has also had a domino effect on other industries like travel and shopping. Electronification of these industries was possible only because we could pay for these digitally.

BRINGING BANKS INTO THE FUTURE

Of course, banks and financial institutions are the backbone of payments. Payment involves removing money from one bank and into another. Therefore, it is critical – especially in the digital space – that they get it right. The digital revolution is forcing financial institutions to evolve their payment solutions.

The payments industry is one of the most complex industries in the financial world. Multiple players in this industry work in tandem to make payment transactions work. Digitization has not only made the payments process more transparent but also improved transaction speed and overall user experience. Banks are required to update their back-end infrastructure to allow integration with multiple payment service providers. For FinTechs, with their agile model built over the cloud-based technology, it is easy to provide a wide range of services with little capital cost.

The market for cross-border payments is expanding. International B2B payments will be a huge opportunity in the upcoming years. FinTech will simplify the procedures involved in cross-border payments, which will help numerous markets.

According to a Juniper Research analysis, the value of B2B cross-border payments would rise from $34 trillion in 2021 to more than $42.7 trillion in 2026. eCommerce marketplaces, which are typically cross-border native platforms, were also shown to be a key driver of this precipitous expansion, according to the study. The 2020 McKinsey Global Payments Report states that global revenue increased by over 5% in 2019, increasing the total for global payments to close to $2 trillion. These $2 trillion are made up of contributions from countless enterprises worldwide. Companies involved in FinTech are becoming more and more important.

For a bank navigating the complex, ever-evolving ecosystem of digital and cross-border payments, the support of a trustworthy ally is in the shape of a domain expert – one who understands the unique regulatory landscape that banks operate in as well as the crossborder payments ecosystem itself. This reliable specialist collaborator becomes the backbone on which a crossborder payments business grows. Banking on the expertise of the specialists, banks and financial institutions providing digital and cross-border payments enter agreements with partners, integrate with regulatory technology and licensed partners, and proceed with confidence through regulatory reform.

A FINAL WORD

Technological advances in the form of mobile devices, Artificial Intelligence, social media, and blockchain have ushered in an era of open banking in the new millennium. Large monolithic firms, because of their large IT footprint, are collaborating with FinTechs for a faster go-to-market.

Trying to predict the future of the digital is like trying to predict the “second bounce.” Once we know a few parameters, (such as speed of throwing, wind direction, weight of the ball) it is reasonable to try and predict where a ball may land once you throw it. However, it will take a serious amount of luck and ability beyond intelligence (artificial or otherwise) to be able to predict the place where it will bounce next, or whether it will bounce again at all.

THE FEW THINGS THAT ARE VERY CLEAR ARE:

1. The adoption of FinTech in our daily lives will grow and, in many cases, we may not even realize it. 2. The speed of this adoption will be much more rapid than it ever has been. The steeper learning curve will be a result of both the client needing it and, in many cases, the obsolescence of erstwhile options. 3. ATMs, for example (yes, they are also part of the

FinTech revolution) took very long for people to adopt and not go to bank branches for withdrawal of money.

Mobile Banking on the other hand has taken off as if people were born with it being the norm. 4. Consolidation in inevitable. FinTechs will merge with one another. Some banks will acquire some FinTechs and become FinTech savvy. Some FinTechs will become or acquire banks. 5. Baby Crypto will grow up and come of age. Its attributes such as height & weight, nature and color of hair (read as popularity and use cases) will however be defined and refined over time by consumers, service providers and regulators. Crypto will be a boon for some use cases and perhaps even for some countries and currencies.

We are now on the digital currency rollercoaster. Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.

HOW TECH

HELPS REAL ESTATE AGENTS ACHIEVE SUCCESS

Nearly every market and industry are impacted by technology. The real estate market is not immune to its reach. John Eric Home recently asked some of the top-producing agents in the United States and Canada how tech has integrated itself into the real estate scene. We posed the simple question:

When working with a client from listing appointments, selling, closing, etc., what forms of technology do you use? (Could be apps, platforms, etc.)

EMILIO DISPIRITO ENGEL & VOLKERS

“All of our clients get the benefits of our highly choreographed yet personalized service through our CRM (customer relationship management). This system will allow any team member who is available, to reply with templated or customized replies, depending on complexity of the situation. Our virtual assistant is available at all times of the night to respond to inquiries by our clients on homes they would like to see, as well as prospective buyers for their home sale.

Once a home is listed for sale, we will use a tremendous amount of technology pieces to market the home to a targeted audience. One of our favorite pieces of technology is Realm Global. Realm is a tool where we plug our client’s listing into the system, add tags which relate to the lifestyle one would obtain in this location and with this home, in addition to pricing and amenities. This program scrubs the client databases of over 500 of the top selling real estate agents in over 100 brokerages across the Americas and allows us to connect with the agents directly to introduce our client’s property to their buyer clients… We take this data and place ads through a variety of social media and search engine platforms that attract prospective buyers from these locations.”

RICHARD SILVER SOTHEBY’S, TORONTO CA

“My must have apps and programs are Follow Up Boss as my CRM, CubiCasa for property measurements/floor plans, Studeo for interactive feature sheets and AI created content, and of course, DocuSign for remote signing.”

BOB PENNYPACKER SOTHEBY’S, HEALDSBURG, CA

For collaterals – 3D Tours and CMA. Tech distribution – eblasts, social media (Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Specific tech tools – Zoom, DocuSign, Skyslope.

MICHAEL JOHNSON COMPASS

“To collaborate with clients on their active home searches and keeping past clients up to date on real estate in their neighborhood, we love using Collections from Compass. It allows anyone invited to the Collection to add properties, comment, and we can create an active search within the Collection. It is the ultimate collaborative tool for searches!

To help our team reach a wide audience in selling our listings, we use LeadGen Labs to craft custom Google and IG marketing programs for each listing individually. It’s always amazing to have a buyer ask to see a listing and find out that we found them through our targeted marketing!”

JOSH MUNCEY COMPASS, CHESTNUT HILL/BOSTON

“Google Drive App - We store everything there. We have a file for every listing that we sell and leverage this for paperwork, marketing, media, etc. It can be helpful to have everything you need on a property when on the go. Also love because Compass is on the Google platform.

Dotloop - We use this for signatures; however, we have started transitioning over to e-signatures through Compass, so it’s recently come to an end. Popl - Electronic Business Card - Self explanatory Compass App - “Find an Agent” tool can be helpful for identifying an agent that knows a local market well when you do not have one that you already know.

MICHALA COSTELLO COMPASS, PHILADELPHIA

“We love the Compass platform. It really provides end-to-end service. We have our Sellers CMA, current market watch to creating their markets material including digital ads and the insights reports. We find it pretty invaluable. Our team also uses Slack to keep all internal team conversations in order. Each listing gets its own Slack channel and the team member, team lead and operations team is all on it.”