Directory.art aims to facilitate connections between participants in the art industry in a novel way, reducing the current friction-filled environment that often hinders more people from getting and staying involved. While not a marketplace, the platform focuses on solving a big challenge for artists: discovery, and separates itself from others by providing tangible value for its users. The Directory.art team, through its first strategic partnership with the .ART domain registry was able to offer the community free .ART domain names on day one. Furthermore, the team reviews strategic partnership proposals continuously to ensure they are both high-fidelity value propositions for the community and meet the ethics guidelines.
What’s more impressive is that the platform is not supported by venture capital or investors to build the technology that powers it or its online engagement, which continues to grow organically. True to form, Mondoir relied on ‘the art of connectivity’ (also the title of Amir Soleymani’s first book) to build and propagate the launch.
Traditional Web3 platforms often launch with token offerings or venture capitalist backing, offering funding based on an idea to build teams that can deliver a product. While this is commonplace in the start-up world, it introduces oversight to a product’s life cycle focused on providing value to investors first. In Web3, where the community is so essential, and the foundation of the technology lies in adoption by everyday people, this creates exclusive objectives: provide people with value or give the investors a return. Most times, it’s only possible to accomplish both at a time. Being free of this imposition allows Directory.art to build with the sole mission of first solving problems for its community.
We are most interested in delivering value for our community, not investors. We are doing this the right way in Web3 through building connections and establishing a sense of community.
Amir Soleymani, Founder and President of Mondoir
Mondoir also announced the Directory.art exhibition, open to the public, at its Downtown Dubai gallery, featuring work from artists on the platform. Equipped with state-of-the-art display technology, including two 224-inch screens dubbed “The Grid”, the gallery has already showcased work by well-known artists, including FEWOCiOUS and collectors such as Amir himself. Providing a premium location to showcase artists’ work, the directory team is creating a valuable service for the community, capitalising on the “art of connectivity,” and using novel mechanisms to establish new and tangible propositions for the community.
Directory.art is now open, with existing members able to invite fellow artists to sign up and have their art showcased at the gallery. The exhibition will be open to the public at the Mondoir Gallery in Downtown Dubai this September.
About Mondoir
Mondoir, established by Amir Soleymani, is a company that operates at the intersection of technology and art, championing artists and promoting the growth of digital art and new technologies. In 2023, the brand expanded to Dubai, with a primary focus on developing tools, deploying systems and delivering experiences that empower artists and streamline their navigation of the new digital landscape.
