How Ukrainian art managers building the global platform for digital art

V-Art is a platform that provides a comprehensive ecosystem for artists, collectors, and other art market professionals through an NFT+ marketplace, virtual exhibition technology as well as networking tools, and high-quality content.

The company was born during the pandemic when the group of lawyers, artists, and economists that later founded the firm saw the potential for a holistic digital art solution. United by their love for the area, the V-Art team graduated from EO business incubator, took in-depth interviews, gathered the brightest minds around it and conducted extensive market research – all to build a solution that would bolster the sustainable growth of the digital art community.

What was the challenge?

The predominantly legal background of its top management has meant that V-Art was built to enable maximum transparency from the beginning.

Experienced in working with intellectual property in creative industries Anastasiia Gliebova, CEO, and Olga Simson, CSO, recognized the need to build a complete ownership package for digital artworks of which the nascent Blockchain mechanism would only be one part.

“In a rapidly growing market, there are a number of risks artists and collectors can be exposed to – it is our job to mitigate them as much as possible and be as upfront with our customers as we can be,” says Anastasiia.

Combined, pre-moderation to filter fraud, e-certification to bolster security, a system of licensing for transparency and commercial flexibility, and of course the blockchain form the unique NFT+ solution.

What is the solution?

Passionate about digital art, the team has a distinct vision: “Art is an experience as much as it is a product. It is not meant for traditional e-commerce on Amazon or eBay look-alikes”, says Olga. Bringing the experiential and social aspects of the art world into a virtual format is a challenge to overcome, which the team has made central to its operation.

V-Art seeks to really imbue its ‘Platform’ title – to reconcile the cultural and commercial by enabling its users to showcase and experience digital art as well as to transact. One project that shows the immersive capability of the firm’s virtual exhibitions is the Art Spaceship, This virtual residency reached more than 2.2 million people and received over 350 applications from 51 countries.

Today, anyone can visit the show through the firm’s website or app, read more about the diverse artworks that populate the spaceship walls, and chat with other visitors in real-time.

The NFT art boom heralded by the astonishing sales of artworks such as the “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” has resulted in a disconnect between the academic expert communities, and the broader market that is often driven by ‘hype’.

Aware of the kind of destructive volatility this can result in, V-Art seeks to provide the intellectual infrastructure through curation, editorial, and blogs, webinars and conferences with experts as well as honest analytics to build a community of like-minded stakeholders around itself.

What are the final results?

Special thanks to the V-Art team for comprehensive support and assistance!

The project “Boosting local traditional industries with IT capacities” is implementing by TechUkraine in partnership with APPAU – Association of Industrial Automation of Ukraine, International Association Culture&Creativity Association with the financial support of the German government through GIZ that aims to increase the competitiveness of traditional industries in strong collaboration with Ukrainian IT companies.