EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SARA - Simple Artificial Renewing Art - aims to revolutionize the way we experience art by combining modern technologies with today's and tomorrow's art industry. With that in mind, more than 25 interviews with industry-leading experts and potential customers were conducted to define and verify problems in the current art industry, as well as create unique solutions for them in the rapidly growing new media art market.

Problem

In the 21st century, there is no convenient way to rent or exchange artworks, let alone experience new creative input through art each day. On top of that, buying art is a very time-consuming and expensive process: A lot of thought goes into the decision of buying a single piece for possibly thousands of euros. Yet, as soon as it is bought, the “magic” behind the artwork quickly ceases at home. To summarize, there is no way to guarantee constant variety in someone's home without permanently putting time and money into it. Conversely, the art industry has not adapted to the big trend towards sharing economy services.

Solution

With new technological developments in Electronic Paper Displays (EPD) and the rising power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), coupled with the already established art community, the art industry is now at the doorstep of a new era, where creativity will be taken to a an entirely new dimension. Just recently, an AI artwork was sold for $432.500, nearly 45 times its highest estimate, in a first-of-its-kind art auction. This exciting event sheds light on a gap in the new media art segment, and SARA is here to fill this gap. With SARA, an electronic paper canvas, the main problems of long decision-making processes, the 'ceasing magic', and lack of variety in art at home are tackled at the same time. At first glance, a SARA canvas might look like a typical 13-inch or 32-inch artwork, but in contrast to normal paintings, it changes and evolves over time to produce a fresh and new look every day. Instead of a regular painting canvas, SARA uses a lightweight, high-resolution E-ink display, driven by an innovative software solution, to produce and showcase entirely new artworks, while using very little energy. Artworks that are generated by our AI software will stay free forever, but the true value of SARA can be experienced through a subscription model, where upcoming artists are featured on SARA canvases all over the world. Since these artists will receive a commission, users of the subscription service are not only able to enjoy a new artist's painting every day, but also contribute to the upcoming artist community.

Approach

Through market research and the construction of a business model, SARA found a perfect gap in the art industry that has yet to be filled. The market size of the new media art market amounts to USD 300 million, with a SAM size of USD 100 million. Talking to our targeted customer segment, we were able to test and verify numerous assumptions, including the premium price tag of around EUR 3,000 for a large and EUR 1,000 for a medium canvas. Potential competitors in the digital art and e-ink technology market were also identified, however, the cordless design, flexibility, and the unique way of displaying evolving artworks from upcoming artists makes SARA stand out from any of its competitors. Finally, after several iterations, a working prototype was built in order to better demonstrate the vision behind this idea. The applied skills and knowledge of team SARA, as well as the prototype, helped to successfully participate in several startup competitions, and eventually resulted in winning the Future Founders Challenge 2019.

Cooperation Partner & Contact Person

• Matthias Hausberger
  matthias.hausberger@s.wu.ac.at

Student team

• Antonia Weißenberger

• Adam Barghati

• Lin Liu

• Saam Mahmoodian

• Matthias Hausberger

Project-Manager

• Staub Alex / Vasilescu Dragos