The past 5 years have been game-changing for the art market, with tech innovations and developments leading to new mediums being created by artists all over the world. It has been astounding to see how quickly the landscape of the art market has been changed to make way for the much-needed disruption of tech advancements.  

 As an artist who has worked extensively in the digital art space, I am always excited to see what new developments in art technology will be introduced and how that would translate into the art being created. This is why I am writing this blog – to share 3 tech advancements that I am not only fascinated by but are also changing the art market. 

They are: 

• Augmented Reality (AR) 

The use of AR technology really took up pace in the art world during the pandemic and it has opened a whole new gateway to how people experience art. This technology has been artistically adopted in many ways, but the popular one is having digital images being superimposed over real-world artwork and having viewers use their mobile devices to view these art compositions in varying levels of animation and design.  

AR art provides an interesting mash up of technology and the art world, where the lines between illusion and reality become blurred. The experience of AR art seems to be more like a collaboration between the viewer and the artist, without any galleries or art museums to facilitate. The beauty of this technology is that it takes the art out of the traditional spaces that it is viewed in and makes it more mobile. All one needs to view AR art is a smart device to scan a QR code and see the environment around them completely transform into a work of art. This makes the entire enterprise affordable and convenient for the artist and the viewers as well.  

To see a good example of AR art, I would recommend checking out the artist Mark-o-Matic (https://www.marcomatic.com/) who is probably one of my favourite AI artist. 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

I really don’t need to emphasis how AI is just taking over the world right now, be it ChatGPT or the numerous algorithms that dictate the kind of content we get on our social media feed. When it comes to AI in the art world, this merge of art and technology can be traced back to the late 1960s. However, for the first time since its inception, we are getting to have free access to AI to generate images and art based on the prompts that we type out. Check it out here – https://openart.ai/create You will probably be losing a couple of hours on this website with all the text-to-image artworks you will be creating. 

The application of AI tech in the art world is countless. Artists have been using this tech to brainstorm ideas, drafting or creating artistic experiences at lesser costs and efforts than usual, essentially changing the art business model. This is an amazing tool that we are just beginning to see the impact of on the art world and the next couple of years will be quite game changing for AI Innovation in art. 

• Virtual Reality (VR) 

With numerous VR art exhibitions having taken place in the last 3 years, we are only scratching the surface of what is possible with this tech. With VR art, artists are combining the tech’s ability to render three-dimensional, computer-generated environments with their own creative expression. This leads to art experiences being created that allow viewers with the help of specialized headsets being immersed into a world completely made from the artist’s imagination.  

VR art is a massive category which encompasses simple interactive videos to 360-degree spherical panoramas to entire museum-quality exhibitions. There are tech giants such as Google and Sony that are actively investing in this tech and making it widely available for people to use. You can try Tilt Brush by Google (https://www.tiltbrush.com/) to get a taste of what VR art can look like and perhaps you might end up with a masterpiece of your own. 

The future of the art and technology relationship is bright and fruitful. We are at the precipice of these tech advancements being more readily adopted into the art world and helping pave the way for more art innovations. So, let’s see what the next 5 years bring us! 

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