.ART domains launch with more than 60 early adopters

.ART announced that more than 60 world-renowned museums and arts organisations will launch dedicated websites on the new top-level domain, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou, Fondation Beyeler, Fondation Cartier, Guggenheim Museum, Hauser & Wirth, ICA Miami, LACMA, MAXXI, Tate and Walker Art Center, among others.

As early adopters of .ART, these organisations have plans to activate their new domains, some of which include fully migrating or consolidating their existing websites to .ART, while others are launching new dedicated websites to showcase unique content from their artists and/or collections.

The early adopters have wide-ranging plans for their respective sites:

Tate, LACMA, Multimedia Art Museum, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, will create websites highlighting various aspects of their collections, while the Fondation Cartier will use the domain to make its collection available to the public for the first time ever. Meanwhile, Centre Pompidou will launch a dedicated website with helpful information in English and other languages for its foreign visitors.

Hauser & Wirth will celebrate the gallery’s 25^th anniversary with the launch of an interactive website featuring a visual chronology detailing the gallery’s nearly three-decade history. In addition, Canesso Gallery, Galerie Meyer Oceanic & Eskimo Art, Galerie Perrin, Tomasso Brothers Fine Art, Stern Pissarro Gallery, and Venus will fully migrate their existing websites to their new .ART domains.

For a full list of .ART’s early adopters, visit http://www.art.art.

“Our mission is to preserve the cultural legacy of the global art world. We are honoured that so many respected institutions from all over the world share our vision and conviction that .ART will transform the arts community’s relationship with the internet and help protect their brand’s heritage online,” explains Ulvi Kasimov, Founder of .ART.

John Matson, CEO of .ART continues, “.ART provides a new way for the art world to identify online. The domain is short, simple, memorable, and has immediate association with the arts. For our Early Adopters, a .ART domain is a natural expression of their brand.”

Early adopters will be given first access to .ART domain names, and thus, have the opportunity to launch content on their respective websites in advance of domains being available for purchase by the general public in summer 2017.

.ART’s early adopters shared their enthusiasm:

Tate’s Digital Director, Ros Lawler, says the museum is “delighted to take part in the launch of this new domain, which will help promote some of the world’s greatest art collections, galleries and museums.”

Benoît Parayre, Director of Communication and Partnerships at the Centre Pompidou explains, “A domain name for the art world has been long overdue and will now allow many cultural industry leaders, museums, art centres, galleries, collectors, etc. to have more relevant domain names to promote their collections and programming.”

“The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is excited to become a part of .ART’s new digital neighbourhood and evolve its programs even further,” says Digital Manager, David Desrimais.

Anton Vidokle, artist and founder of e-flux, adds, “The internet carries profound educational potential, and a reliable and informative domain dedicated to art will provide an invaluable source of knowledge. The art domain will become an effective platform that dignifies the excellent work of art organisations and artists from all parts of the world for all who love and care about the arts.”

Dominique Chevalier, President of the Syndicat National des Antiquaires (SNA), which organizes the Biennale des Antiquaires at the Grand Palais in Paris, explains “For us, and for our galleries, ‘.com’ is too commercial and ‘.fr’ is too generic. The problem with most domain names is that they don’t say anything about the business that you do, ‘.ART’ solves that.”

Lélia Pissarro, co-owner of Stern Pissarro Gallery and great-granddaughter of artist Camille Pissarro, adds, “The internet has had the biggest impact on the global art market. It has brought art to every corner of the world. The way forward in terms of domain names is clearly to categorize industries. We feel that with what the Pissarro names represents, marrying it with ‘.com’ lacked elegance. Having the possibility to now use ‘pissarro.art’ is simply the perfect solution. It fills a long lasting gap in our marketing strategy and the way we project ourselves.”

Timeline

Beginning in February 2017, .ART domain names will be available for registration to professional members of the art world, ensuring that key stakeholders are given the opportunity to secure their desired domains first.