The internet huh? Pretty awesome I reckon. You can search for the best events going on in London, learn more about your favourite bands and artists, win stuff, and read great reviews by an amazing team of writers that includes people almost as brilliant as me. Oh wait, that's just Spoonfed...
But apparently other people are getting the hang of this whole internet thing and launching sites of their own. Apart from Cricinfo and the London Review of Breakfasts (and Spoonfed obviously) I didn't really think there was any need for more websites. But, having spent most of November sunning myself in Sydney (yeah? that's just the way I roll) I've come back to find another one of these websites has just been launched: it's called murmurART and it looks bloody brilliant.
So what is this murmurART? Well, it's pretty simple. murmurART is an online art gallery that exhibits and sells work by up-and-coming contemporary artists. For the launch on November 26th they've got over forty artists on their books, including Laurence Owen, Bethany Murray, Seiko Kato, Emma Puntis, Jeni Snell, Tom Badley, Hugo Wilson, Kevin Harman and Giles Ripley. The main advantages that murmurART has over the traditional art gallery are twofold: firstly, because there's no expensive gallery space, a much higher percentage of proceeds goes direct to the artists themselves; and secondly, their work is on display not just for a month-long show, but 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Moreover – and for me, this is one of the most exciting bits – there is a programme of temporary exhibitions to be displayed online. To this end, murmurART have got two big art names involved – former ArtReview editor Catriona Warren and all-round contemporary art guru Flora Fairbairn. Excited by the notion of an online exhibition, and with a host of other questions about the nature of the enterprise, I met up with murmurART co-founder Will Conibear to find out more.
How did the idea for murmurART originate?
It was over two years ago now, but there was no great epiphanic moment. I think everyone by then could see how the internet was affecting promotion and helping to support un-established creative talent, particularly in music and film. We [Will and co-founder Donald Eastwood] were both interested in contemporary art, so we started working at it.
When we looked into it, it became obvious how bad the current load of sites can be for artists. I saw a site where there was a flashing dateline advert next to somebody's painting, and another where you could see what it would look like above a black leather sofa. No great paintings in the first place mind you, but it was all just perpetuating the idea that the internet is a crass and culturally ignorant domain. That, I suppose, was when we decided to do murmurART as it is now.
What are your aims for the site?
We do not in any way see murmurART as a replacement for street level galleries: appreciation of art 'in the flesh' should never be questioned. However, it is undeniable that there are more extremely talented emerging artists in the UK right now than there is gallery wall space, and what we offer is a chance for these artists to have their work available for appreciation, discussion and ultimately sale, all year round.
Looking the other way, we want to engage a wider audience in contemporary art, to encourage them to go and see art and not to be intimidated by the art world. As a rule, murmurART seeks to be more than simply a point of sale, just as a gallery is more than simply a shop window display. The site will act as a destination for all interested in the contemporary art world with a series of articles, debates, features and biographies alongside the exhibition of the artists' work.
What kind of artists do you have on your books? Is there anything that links them all?
We've tried to keep the practices as varied as possible, and include artwork that is both sellable and unsellable. I suppose you could say the link is our personal taste – or some monstrous hybrid of Catriona and each of our individual tastes. We haven't had any massive differences of opinion yet, I add. Catriona's presence has helped ensure there is a uniform quality.
It has always been our intention to promote un-established artists, and while we are happy to build relations with galleries, we do eventually hope to hand over artists to galleries and make room for newer artists to come through.
How did you get the likes of Flora Fairbairn and Catriona Warren involved?
We had gone to the first Anticipation show at David Robert's One One One gallery that Catriona and Flora co-curated and liked their selections. We got in touch with them and arranged meetings to talk through the idea. We actually met up with Catriona at this year's Anticipation show in Selfridges. Both were interested in the idea and have been fantastically supportive.
I think the idea of online 'curated exhibitions' sounds really cool. Could you say a bit more about how they are going to work?
The idea is to use them as a way of bringing work outside of the core artists we promote on the website to our audience's attention. We want to be very innovative with them and to use them to help bring the full spectrum of contemporary art to our audience. We are also going to use them to run exhibitions of international work. So we are working with a curator in India at the moment to put together a show of emerging Indian art, and we are working on other countries at the moment as well.
And the question that's been bugging me: are you going to do 'virtual private views'? i.e. sending bottles of wine to arts editors before emailing them a link to the exhibition?
I like it! But on our budget right now I'm not sure you'd want the wine we could buy!
murmurART launches 26th November 2008
Prices range from £200 to £10,000
London Art
London Exhibitions
London Events
Add an event
Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
Frieze have today announced details for the 2012 edition, their tenth art fair in London. Taking place...