[Blockchain in Gongdeok] Transparent art market ‘Collabo Communications’

Many people imagine art auctions with rich men sitting around the table in a secret room, handing over bags full of cash to each other. It’s not easy for us to have access to art trading for life, also not easy to find out the whereabouts of art works.

The art market has been criticized for not being transparent because of these characteristics. Many critics pointed out that only expensive works of art prevails, and the quality of art also declined. Naturally a voice to make the market transparent has been raised.

Examples of the application of blockchain to artworks are common. Digital art is used as a digital asset to prove ownership and to fairly trade. We, Block Media went a step further and met Park Moo-rim, director of Collabo Communications, who is preparing to apply blockchain to make the entire art market transparent.

– Please introduce yourself.

“My name is Park Moo-rim. I majored in art and worked as a visual arts exhibitor. I have been doing exhibitions and presenting works. While doing various art-related activities, I thought that it would be necessary for entire art market to be more systemized in the process of trading and tracking works of art. That’s the reason why I started to work with Collabo Communications. We chose Blockchain technology because of its benefit of recording and certifiability. We have been developing our technology for 3 years.”

– Why did you choose blockchain technology?

“It was because of the search system. I was wondering if there would be a way to search for more specific works of art. In the case of poetry, you can easily search the title and contents. However, art works cannot be searched with words. It is possible to search only by genre, features, or the name of an artist. But it is difficult to search for the details of the work itself. I started with the idea that it would be easier for art works to be delivered to people if the search system existed.”

– How can blockchain affect the art industry?

“In case of blockchain’s usage in the art industry, most cases are transactions or purchases of art works as digital assets. We wanted to use blockchain technology to get data ​​about buyers and their purpose of purchasing arts. We cannot figure out to whom art works are sold and where they are now once the work is sold. The gallery is trading art, but trading is held in a non-transparent way. Therefore, the price of the work is not clear and the validity of the price is insufficient. In addition, art works can be traded for illegal activities in this way. When the transparency of art industry is met, I think that the artist could focus more on the work, and the gallery could confidently trade the work to consumers in the situation where the price of the work is opened to everyone.”

“The art market is maintained by the rich. It is our goal to open the art market to public by supporting them to buy art works at ease.”

– How can blockchain be used specifically?

“Currently, when blockchain technology is applied to the art market or the realm of art, it is focused on whether the art is genuine. Blockchain can prove transaction details. If a work of art is decent, people will buy it, which will lead to more demand for the artist. This means “persistence” that the artist is constantly creating good works. One piece of art is not important, but it is important to know the artist’s continuity in his/her career. You can examine artist’s persistence . This can be a criterion for judging value. The true value of the work is to create a genealogy. Blockchain can be used to record it.

For young artists, the 30s and 40s are the toughest times. It is a time when they are not famous yet and cannot earn a big income. If their works can be recorded on the open system, it becomes possible to analyze whether or not to invest in them in the long term. It’s not important to know the price of a single piece of art. It’s important to find out the progress of the prices of artists’ works. I think we should focus on these kinds of development to know if an artists could be a maestro in the future. It would be correct to see that the blockchain manages artists’ references transparently.”

– Is there anything that artists can get?

“Some artists are irresponsible. Sometimes they suddenly let go of their work even though they are good at it. Then, the people who purchased the work are in a situation where the artist literally disappeared. In this case, those who purchased the work in advance are blocked from the possibility that the value of the work will increase in the future. Our platform can let artists take responsibility. At present, an exhibition itself could be considered as a career of artists. But when the blockchain is introduced, every exhibition is recorded in detail; when, where, and how the work was exhibited. The artist can’t simply neglect the exhibition. They need to exhibit works with sincerity and authenticity. Our platform allows us to see and demonstrate the growth of art works in the art ecosystem.”

“Art works usually do not fluctuate in price. The fact that the price of the work does not go up further means that the work is dead, does not work, or becomes increasingly damaged. This means that the gallery will hesitate to show the artist’s work. Sustainability becomes important to avoid this situation. ”

“There are many sayings that art is not an area for the public, but through art we can analyze and observe the world and predict the future with some help of humanities and social sciences. This is why criticism is also an important component of art. Therefore, the artist, the contents of the work, the stories behind the artist, and the critics should be recorded in the blockchain to form the storytelling of the artist and should become the factor that determines the price of the work. ”

– What can the public get through the platform?

“We try to make the search function fun. You can find art works by searching with the phrase used as everyday language. You can search for works that match your current feelings, see the activities of artists who created them, how critics commented on them, and where and how much the trades were made. Through our platform people will enjoy arts by seeking the works that fit their emotions and see the related situations and expressions.”

– When will the service be released?

“It would be the best to gather as many artists’ works as possible at once and open them. But it is not easy to do so at first. We are planning to upload the artists’ works displayed in our gallery on our platform in autumn. Expected release date is in October, including transaction functions. ”

– What are the goals of the service?

“We cannot figure out why they bought the specific art work if they don’t tell. However, if they purchase arts several times, we will be able to capture the factor of the purchases. With our platform, art will be evaluated not only by critics, but also by the reaction of the public.”

“Bad practices can be eliminated. In general, when artists exhibits through a gallery, they also trade through the gallery. However, the work may not be sold during the exhibition. It is natural to trade works through galleries even after the exhibition is over, but in Korea, there are cases where artists sell arts by themselves. Gallery owners expect to receive commissions when exhibiting and selling works. These cases can aggrevate the trust in art market’s ecosystems. When registering works displayed with the blockchain system, artists and the gallery can trust each other by an appropriate trade through the gallery. In other words, it is possible to build a trust system. It can also prevent the customary expedients which are rampant in the art industry.”

“When we trade and support the work of responsible artists, and when that responsibility is valued, artists can also make better artwork. So far, the system has not been able to provide such a virtuous cycle, so young artists have often created works that rely only on money. I expect that our platform will help artists themselves to ask the fundamental question of why they make art.”

“One of the characteristics of modern art is that it contains a lot of multimedia. It is often impossible to purchase art containing multimedia because it is not an object such as a painting or a craft. Our platform can offer a way to invest in digitized artwork. If the art works are traded through digital assetization, we expect that multimedia art will also be provided with a foothold that can be produced with the public’s investment.”

– Any further comments?

“I think the important thing is how to strengthen the reliability of each other. When I first applied the Bitcoin-style trading system to art, I was very surprised because of people’s reaction. In many cases, artists and collectors did not want to disclose the details of the purchase, the amount of money, etc. I wondered why they wouldn’t disclose the data. So I am thinking about the combination of transparency and anonymity.”

“It is very difficult for young artists in their 30s and 40s to present expensive works. When they publish an inexpensive piece, we can predict the value of the investment when we suppose that the artist will grow for three to five years. I think people can understand who they are and how they are living through their initial investment in various works and raise profits at the same time. I think we can see how humans are living, what we are thinking about, and what areas artists are focusing on, while trading art works, just like people in the stock market analyze economic conditions, politics, diplomacy, etc.”

번역: 김동우 기자