Arcual will unveil its latest feature, which opens up new possibilities for artists, galleries, and collectors to connect with an artwork throughout its lifecycle. The Digital Dossier feature will be launched ahead of Arcual’s participation in Zurich Art Weekend and Art Basel in Basel, continuing its commitment to placing artists at the centre of the art ecosystem. This new feature will be brought to life through the commission of a unique sculptural artwork by British artist Phoebe Cummings, for their booth in the Collectors Lounge of Art Basel.
Arcual’s Digital Dossier can contain the digital Certificate of Authenticity (CoA), Resale Terms, as well as other supporting documentation relating to an artwork, such as sketches, designs, and photographs showing the artist’s creative process, shipping and installation guidelines, condition reports, exhibition certificates, and more. The Digital Dossier furthers understanding of the artist and the artwork, simultaneously enhancing its value and authenticity for collectors, both now and in the future. Collectors will be able to utilise this feature to keep all of the documentation relating to the artwork in one secure space.
Art is all about storytelling. Arcual’s new Digital Dossier feature strengthens the connection between an artist and their artwork by enabling them to attach documents and images to enhance its story. These may include sketches, designs, even a photograph in the studio showing their creative process. These attachments follow the artwork on its journey from one owner to the next. Further attachable documentation can outline how artists would like for their work to be exhibited, stored, and moved. We have seen a real desire from collectors for deeper engagement with the artworks they purchase, from the very beginning of the process. This new functionality fundamentally enhances the experience of owning and authentifying of an artwork, adding value for the future in a way that’s easy to access and secure.
Bernadine Bröcker Wieder
Arcual at Art Basel An official partner for Art Basel in Basel, Arcual will showcase a unique, large-scale sculptural artwork by the artist Phoebe Cummings, commissioned for its booth in the Collectors Lounge, which will be on display throughout the fair. Cummings is known for her ephemeral sculptures that reflect on nature’s beauty and life cycle, created from raw, unfired clay. She will complete the sculpture on site, enabling visitors to experience first-hand the artist’s creative process. Surrounded by mirrors and brought to life through immersive lighting, the artwork will bring an engaging, interactive element to the space and highlight the connectedness between an artist, collector, and the artwork. The work, which was consigned and purchased through Arcual’s blockchain, will have a sustainable life cycle. It will demonstrate the potential of the Digital Dossier, which Cummings will utilise for the first time.
I am increasingly interested in how we collect the ephemeral, and how collections can encompass different forms of artistic practice that may not result in a permanent object. I have expanded the way I record each work, moving beyond photography and film as the primary method, to include writing as well as other sensory information such as humidity, offering new possibilities in terms of how a work may be re-performed in the future. The Digital Dossier is an interesting feature which enables artists to amplify the storytelling around their artworks, to set out how it has come to be, and to outline how it might best be presented in the world.
Phoebe Cummings, artist
Arcual will also participate in a variety of talks and events around the fair, with Arcual CEO Bernadine Brocker Wieder joining the Conversations series panel Blockchain, Ownership and Copyright, on Saturday 17th June, 3-4 pm CET. The panel will discuss blockchain as a decentralising and redistributive technology, exploring how works are authenticated, who the copyright belongs to and whether transactions really remain forever on the blockchain, as well as the potential of this rapidly developing field to empower artists, galleries and buyers in equal measure. Alongside Bernadine Bröcker Wieder, the panel will feature Amelie Ebbinghaus (Art Loss Register), Primavera di Filipi (artist and writer) and Sarah Friend (artist), with Brian Droitcour as moderator. The Conversations series is free to attend and open to the public, without a fair ticket and will also be broadcast online. Arcual will also host Arcual Reflections, a series of intimate talks at their booth which will bring together artists, curators, collectors, and tech experts, which will be livestreamed. The details of these events will be released on the Arcual website, ahead of the fair. Arcual will also be working with several galleries at Art Basel, who will be consigning works for sale.
Arcual’s mission from the very start has been to offer pioneering technologies that give artists greater ownership, participation, and transparency in their careers, as well as to provide both institutions and galleries the tools to best nurture them. Arcual’s Digital Dossier feature empowers artists, enables a greater connection with their work and places them in the centre, which aligns with the central mission of the LUMA Foundation.
Maja Hoffmann, Founder of LUMA Foundation
Arcual at Zurich Art Weekend
Ahead of Art Basel, Arcual will also be an official partner for Zurich Art Weekend, which takes place from 9 – 11 June. Arcual will host a panel discussion with speakers including leading auctioneer, art dealer, and collector, Simon de Pury, alongside art tech expert and advisor, Nina Roehrs, and artist Gretchen Andrew, moderated by Arcual CEO Bernadine Bröcker Wieder on Friday 9th June, 4pm CET: How Technology is impacting Power Dynamics in the Art World. The talk will explore power structures between artists and galleries, trends and opportunities, how previously marginalised members of the art eco-system who are now being empowered by tech, and more.
About Arcual
Arcual was built with the backing and expertise of the LUMA Foundation, MCH Group (the parent company of Art Basel) and BCG X and launched in 2022. Arcual offers a suite of digital tools and integrations to assist galleries in ensuring verified transactions, digital authenticity, royalty sharing, and secure international payments. Arcual’s first application ‘Salesroom’ offers smart contract terms for physical, primary market artworks, which are registered securely on the blockchain.
Arcual’s customisable, collaborative technology designs a new infrastructure to empower everyone – artists, galleries, collectors, and more – to grow their practices, inspire new opportunities, and solve long-standing challenges in the art eco-system.
About Phoebe Cummings
Phoebe Cummings is an artist based in the UK, creating temporary sculptures and environments from raw clay. The density of labour and skill invested in making sits in direct opposition to the brief existence of the work. There is an inherent instability that simultaneously untethers clay from the fixed, enduring potential of ceramics. The works change as they drip, dry, shrink and crack, and the clay is ultimately broken down and recycled, in different locations and periods of time, as an unending material performance.
Cummings has undertaken numerous residencies in the UK, Greenland and U.S, including six months as Ceramics artist-in residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2010 and a fellowship at Camden Arts Centre 2012/13). She continues to show internationally, with recent exhibitions including Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples and Galerist, Istanbul. She was the winner of the British Ceramics Biennial 2011, and the BBC Woman’s Hour Craft Prize 2017. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Brighton in 2019 and continues to work as a Researcher at the Ceramics Research Centre-UK, University of Westminster.
For more information about the artist, please follow https://www.instagram.com/phoebe_cummings/
About Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and Contemporary Art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through new digital platforms and a number of new initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report and Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast. Art Basel’s Global Media Partner is The Financial Times.
For further information, please visit artbasel.com.
Zurich Art Weekend
Zurich Art Weekend highlights the quality and diversity of the city’s art scene by offering unique insights into the curated program of highly qualitative and exceptional events organised in collaboration with the participating art venues. Free of charge, the events and initiatives of Zurich Art Weekend continue the pursuit of actively engaging with an audience interested in the arts on a national and international scale. At the core of the international art calendar, Zurich Art Weekend anticipates the preview days of Art Basel as per tradition.
Zurich Art Weekend nourishes and develops links between all entities and players which form its thriving ecosystem, opening it to the public to best serve the knowledge of artistic creation, alongside artists, curators, museum directors and collectors. With the institutions, galleries, off-spaces, publishers collections, foundations and universities, the program in June emphasises the latest trends and experiential formats that distinguish the field. Zurich Art Weekend champions more democratic access to the arts, opening the city’s art scene to regional, national and international cultural exchanges.
For more information, please visit https://zurichartweekend.com/
