Modern art has been one of the fastest fields to embrace technology. Once a fringe practice, working at the intersection of art and technology is now commonplace, and this practice is here to stay.

Creating art doesn’t have to be a pricey feat

Art can be extremely expensive. But, with recent digital signage technology, art has joined numerous other fields whose practitioners now enjoy lower production and distribution costs. Individual content producers experienced a massive decrease in these costs with online publication and sharing tools such as Blogger and Youtube. Likewise, digital art and digital signage have enabled artists to now enjoy lower production and distribution costs themselves.

Screenly provides low cost digital signage solutions and aims to include the arts sector in the growing digital signage market. As a SaaS, cloud-based service, Screenly provides cost-effective digital signage management for both static image art and video art. Screenly has digital signage solutions in both commercial and open source versions, and anyone can sign up for a free Screenly account in minutes.

A versatile medium for your message

The arts sector is ripe for innovation with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), trumpeted as a soon-to-come “ubiquitous computing and sensor platform.” There are significant improvements IoT can bring to your digital signage based art.

One of the ways art can benefit from digital signage and IoT technology is by enabling interactions between the artwork and its audience. In response to a demand for interactivity features, we’ve enabled reactive digital signage at Screenly, which integrates IoT devices into your arts digital signage. You can employ sensors to trigger art to display or change in response to any external triggers such as movement or weather. With some basic technical knowledge and our guidance, this can all be a DIY product.

Digital signage can also be used for the administrative side of art exhibitions, such as for displaying exhibition times, artist biographies, special event notices, and ticketing information. Digital signage is used in this way at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City. Specifically, digital signage is used in the Met’s Breuer building, built by famed architect Marcell Breuer, as it was able to be easily installed without the need to renovate or damage the building’s walls or other structures.

Digital signage is also being used to display art outside the standard exhibition space. For example, in Toronto’s Yonge & Dundas Square, digital signage that was primarily used for advertising was also used to display art to the public. Marcos Terenzio of Shikatani Lacroix Design noted that “the art provided a cultural outlet and the animated artwork surrounded the square and engaged audiences at a more meaningful emotional level.” Similarly, The Canada Council for the Arts uses a massive digital signage display in its lobby to showcase local artists and invite visitors to create and share their own art.

Depending the requirements for you art, you can use Screenly solutions to deploy multiple screens and unlock a hands-free performance via our advanced content scheduling system. These functions require no more than a stunningly simple, one-time setup. To learn more regarding using Screenly solutions for your art needs, check out Screenly how-to screencasts on our YouTube channel. Also, feel free reach out to support.screenly.io with any questions or comments regarding digital signage integrations with your art.

Hardware under your control

Since Screenly solutions work with any modern 1080p HD TV with HDMI, you can either use your own TV or get a digital signage TV with a built-in Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a leading digital signage player, and it is the hardware behind Screenly’s digital signage platform. From the tiny, budget-friendly Raspberry Pi device, you can expect flawless, full 1080p video performance on both small and large screens.

Of course, you won’t be on-location with your art for the entirety of an art exhibition. However, you still need to be alerted of any technology issues with your digital art displays. To address this, Screenly’s status monitoring feature keeps you in the loop on whether or not your screens are operating properly. With this feature, there is no need to worry about fading connectivity or glitches happening out-of-sight. In addition to alerting you of any and issues with your art displays, every Screenly node runs automatic maintenance and software updates. Additionally, if your internet connection momentarily fails, your Screenly powered digital signage will continue to display your art, as your art will be locally distributed and cached.

Get started

As an artist, the last thing you want is to spend your time and energy fussing around with technical details. So that you can focus on your art and not the technology, Screenly solutions are designed for fast installation, easy administration, and stellar usability. To be on the vanguard of art and technology, sign up today to incorporate Screenly’s digital signage solutions into your art.

Screenly has grown to run more than 10,000 screens around the world. If interest in learning more about Screenly in other sectors, read more about Screenly’s other use cases.