By Graham K. Rogers

A few weeks ago I looked at a new concept of digital art for sale. The site called [s]edition, offers for sale a limited number of editions of art that the artists have made available for the medium. Each digital work has a certificate of authenticity which is in the registered user's vault along with the work of art (virtually speaking). A user may download the work from the vault. It is hoped by those running the site that when enough sales have been made, the works will be traded in a digital marketplace.

Initially there were not a great number of works for sale on the [s]edition site, but things picked up when Damien Hirst, whose works were also being offered via the Gagosian app for the iPad, provided Xylosidase, one of the Spots series as well as half a dozen other works. Other artists include Wim Wenders who has a series of photographic editions on offer, Mat Collishaw with 9 editions and Tracy Ermin with some animated neon-like art editions.

[s]edition

In the vault I am able to view the unique certificate for the works I have bought. While the edition of Elmgreen and Dragset "Powerless Structures, Fig.101" was visible, I was not able to make it full screen in Safari: the gear wheel kept spinning and nothing happened. Likewise, the full-screen display of Xylosidase was less than perfect although the normal size image did display properly. Downloading Xylosidase was simple with the on-screen button. The PNG file had my name and the unique edition number.

Art on the iPhone

On the iPhone, the Vault is the top of three sections, the others are Browse Art and About. The About section explains the dea behind such Art and the purposes it serves for collectors.

In the Browse Art section we may browse the list of artists by scrolling left and right. One or more works for each are displayed along with a description of the artist. A link allows users to view more information and works online.

I tried it first on the iPhone and using a Facebook login was able to view the works in my vault. This time the work, "Powerless Structures, Fig.101" could be view properly rotating although the limited screen space of the iPhone was not the best way of viewing this. I was able to scroll sideways to the other work in the vault (Xylosidase) and view that, again at the limited display size.

Almost as an afterthought it appears, there is a button to the bottom right of the screen which seemed to access a social photographic app, Augmented Art by Aurasma, which sounded rather good. As I was more concerned with the Art aspect of the Sedition Art app, I quickly created an image using this and sent it by email. I was only able to check the link on the iPhone and then needed to download another app to view the content. This backdoor marketing devalued the [s]edition experience for me. I will not be using the Aurasma app at all.

On the iPad the opening screen display was a little better spaced with the title in the center and the links below. In landscape mode the links moved to the right. As with the iPhone I logged in using Facebook. As expected the larger screen area displayed the works far more effectively. Neither could be enlarged using the iOS "pinch".

In the Browse section, as with the vault, the larger display area made far more sense of the editions, particularly those that were animated. The iPad app did not have the Aurasma button.

Comments

Whether or not the idea lifts off and my Art increases in value over time is the same gamble that collectors made when the first Picassos or works by Jackson Pollock appeared.

Is it Art? Only time will tell.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.