A painting remains a painting, and it is no different today than in the days of Rubens or Breugel. Canvas, gallery, seller, buyer, new owner, new wall, hangs, done. Only that Jörg Schnurre just did not want to believe it anymore.
The Dessauer, formerly a graffiti sprayer, scientist, army officer, bar owner and referee of the Dessau Lord Mayor, came up with the idea during an Afghanistan mission to turn the art market. Which has been baked for centuries, on its head and lead it into the age of digitization.
“As one of the last markets, the art industry is resisting with its hands and feet,” he says. “There are only online sales platforms that operate according to the rules of the traditional art market.”
But Schnurre wanted something new, something as revolutionary as Netflix for the film industry and Spotify for listening to music. With pinkwhy.com, named after a couple of pink headphones that he had in Afghanistan at the time, “Of course, my international comrades asked me, Pink? Why? should work.”
Every display is a canvas
The art startup from the Bauhaus city offers pictures for download on digital devices. Artists simply deposit works on the website of the young company. And art lovers get the pictures of street art specialists like Parsprototo, Nexus or Cantwo. But also of painters like Olivia Seipelt and Heiko Mattausch against payment on their devices.
It can be a cell phone, a tablet, a television. Each screen is a canvas. Schnurre outlines the basic idea behind Pinkwhy. Whose startup financing he could provide with his own savings. The support of an uncle and with the help of a digital creativity promotion of the country.
Bahaus boss Claudia Perren wants to have already convinced Schnurre. In her opinion, the term applied arts by pinkwhy is given a whole new perspective, who even announced his secure town hall job for his vision of the art revolution.
Schnurre is convinced, art needs new ways to reach people. And the countless digital spaces in public spaces such as airports, train stations, shopping malls. Or in the foyers of large companies need content, content that does not blink any more. Flickering and shouting, but artful, inspiring, and decelerating.
Sound for the eyes
With pinkwhy Schnurre, who calls himself a boss for good mood at the startup, wants to deliver just that. He sees his company as the spotify of art, because basically pinkwhy delivers the sound for your eye, the sound for the eyes.
The hopes of the busy founder are based on technological developments that are already foreseeable. Whole cities and areas of life would develop into a kind of giant medium in the future, he foreshadows.
Pinkwhy wants to revolutionize the art market
“We come with our idea at the right time,” says Jörg Schnurre. The technical development with millions of displays in various life situations. The digitization of the art market, the immense online use also among art lovers as well as the increasing demand for affordable art. These are excellent arguments for success.
For his vision, the Dessauer has already been lugged to large technology companies and had success. The traditional Loewe group was won as a cooperation partner, on a visit to New York Schnurre could even confront art giants such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat with his concept.
“They said, Hey, cool, finally, someone who understands where the journey goes,” says the company founder. Who is firmly convinced that art for download will soon be as normal as a click to the next song on iTunes.
It will be a dream come true for him if people download art as naturally as they download music or stream their favorite series in three years time. Jörg Schnurre has no doubt that this is possible.
Or in the words of the Netflix founders, give people what they want, when they want, in the format they want, at a reasonable price, and they’ll be more willing to pay for it than they are to steal.