Moving forward in the digitalization of the art sector
The Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries launches a free smartphone app, downloadable in more than 70 countries. This digital platform allows selecting a personalised itinerary of galleries following the user’s individual preferences. The app will then devise the most efficient route to visit the selected galleries in districts like Barrio de las Letras.
Arte Madrid, the association of modern and contemporary art galleries of Madrid, endorses the association’s aim to digitalize the art sector by launching its own smartphone app. The new tool replaces and vastly expands the possibilities of the physical paper map the Association had been publishing since it was founded in 2000. “We want to give collectors easier access to information and to promote a wider knowledge and enjoyment of art among the general public, in a more environmentally-friendly and accessible way in tune with the new times”, explained Manuel Fernández-Braso, current president of Arte Madrid.
Downloadable for free from any device, the Arte Madrid app is available from today in the two leading app stores: Google Play and App Store. Besides, given its special interest for international collectors and art-world professionals, the first version will be available in more than seventy countries (Spain, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ireland, USA, Mexico or Argentina, among others). This means that the wide range on offer in Madrid galleries will be available beyond the city limits, helping to boost the internationalisation of the gallery sector.
The new app will give users free access to real-time updated information on all the 52 Arte Madrid’s member galleries, with news on openings and an exhibitions calendar—with digital images and info—as well as a list of the artists exhibiting at each venue at any given moment. Furthermore, the QR for the app will be readily visible in all the galleries, so that visitors can download it instantly to their devices, thus helping to multiply visits across the network of association members.
The potential of digital tools greatly broadens the possibilities of the paper map. For instance, one of the notable features of this digital platform is the possibility to select a personalised itinerary of galleries following the user’s individual preferences. The app will then devise the most efficient route to visit the selected galleries, located mainly in the districts of the Spanish capital: Lavapiés, Letras, Centro, Salesas, Chamberí, Salamanca…
With this new app—possible thanks to the support of the regional and local authorities—the Arte Madrid association of galleries reinforces its role as a catalyst for contemporary art in Madrid. “In a moment like the present, more than ever, art has a key role to play in shaping individuals and society alike,” Fernández-Braso added, before concluding that “art galleries are a crucial element in the city’s cultural fabric, promoting the work of the artists on their rosters in exhibitions they are both educational and instructive.”
