Company That Rents Physical Artworks To Businesses Adds Digital Signage Capabilities

May 3, 2019 by Dave Haynes

A company that provides physical works of art as a service to property owners and companies has added digital capability, providing a presumably less costly alternative to custom creative for things like large format video walls.

Boston-based TurningArt says it has a collection of over 25,000 pieces of art, including paintings, illustrations and photographs, “most of which can now be displayed and rotated” on digital signage solutions.

Its core business, at least to date, has been providing suitable artworks for buildings and offices on a rental basis. While big Fortune 500s may have their own art collections, most companies do not, and Ikea will only take you so far.

The company has done a partnership with Denver-based TouchSource, which does digital signage and building directories, to offer a turnkey solution that offers everything from selection of creative to installation of screens.

Says a press release:

With a new generation coming of age, building amenities rooted in technology and wellness are winning business and earning consumer loyalty. TouchSource provides industries with digital display solutions that offer a full range of content, including local wayfinding maps, directories, weather, transit, marketing information and more. Now with the integration of TurningArt, dynamic and beautiful artwork can be integrated with informational content to create transformative, yet effective, spaces.

TouchSource’s partnership with TurningArt speaks to something more than the seamless integration of an active space. For modern-day consumers who are more attuned to the aesthetics of their environment and personal wellness, the TouchSource ArtSpace solution, powered by TurningArt, provides an additional value proposition for every industry. This solution not only provides a platform for independent artists nationwide to display their works but also delivers an agile and future-proof technology that enhances community connection and elegance.

TurningArt boasts a collection of over 25,000 pieces of art, including paintings, illustrations and photographs, most of which can now be displayed and rotated on TouchSource digital signage solutions. TouchSource and TurningArt also provide personal support and curators to help hand-select art that is appropriate for the end user’s space and taste. Once selected, artwork can be displayed through any variety of TouchSource digital signage solutions.

“Contemporary and local artwork enhances the experience in every space. At TurningArt, it’s been our mission to bring the work of independent and emerging artists to every space through an easy, approachable service. Now, with TouchSource, we’re able to expand our approach to ‘artwork as a service’ by delivering rotating digital artwork collections with simplicity to your TouchSource screens,” said Jason Gracillieri, CEO, TurningArt.

TouchSource and TurningArt’s solution made its first debut in the San Francisco development of 150 Spear Street (seen in photo), a 270,000-square-foot, Class A office building located in the South Financial District, the fastest growing neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area.

150 Spear showcases a TouchSource video wall in their lobby, rotating three pieces of art per day. Art was selected to embody the spirit of San Francisco by featuring local artists and depictions of the Golden Gate Bridge and cascading ocean views. The art is framed by content for the tenants and visitors, including news, transit, weather and building updates and bulletins.

“For our lobby renovation, we were looking for video wall content which would differentiate our lobby and engage our tenants. The TouchSource and TurningArt have proven to be the perfect solution — providing useful news and information for our tenants against a brilliantly curated background highlighting local artists. The video wall has been a universal success with our tenants as well as passersby,” said Property Manager Jim Osborn from JLL.

There is some suggestion that turnkey arrangement is an exclusive one, but I’ve no idea whether someone like a building owner that may already have a video wall would need to work, as well, with TouchSource to get at TurningArt’s visuals.

This approach leaves me with mixed feelings. A flashy lobby with a big video wall will be that much better if the visuals hit a more defined objective than “pretty” or “interesting” or “calming.” With dynamic data the wall could be steadily saying refreshed things about the company, neighborhood or city.

Custom creative can easily cost six figures, though, and that kind of money just isn’t budgeted all that often. This is, at least, a theoretical option for the people out there that puts in things like video walls, stand back, and then wonder what to run on the screen.

But I do like the integration of the directory functions on the touch video wall, even though there’s a good argument to be made about leaving the big visual alone and doing a directory separately.

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