Art Galleries had a rough year in 2020, and so did artists. There weren’t many options when it came to finding galleries to rent for displaying one’s artworks.

People got locked in their houses, therefore they could not visit such exhibitions. I imagine art collectors were very bored as well.

Of course, there are artists who own their own galleries and display their artworks throughout the year without much concern. But even for them, visitors were still hard to come by.

How did some artists solve this issue?

Some players in the Art industry, such as VIFAF (Virtual International Fine Art Fair) found alternatives.

They thought, why should we try to get visitors into our physical exhibition, while they are not allowed to when we can just show them our Virtual Gallery online in an immersive environment?

And so they discovered Panorender. We helped them achieve such a disruptive goal, and build for them a custom 3D fully navigable virtual environment to display the artworks.

We only needed some renderings of the building for this.

How would a Virtual Gallery benefit artists?

I honestly don’t know much about art exhibitions and their marketing techniques, but out of the very few I visited so far, they could not fit too many people there. They could, but it may not offer a great experience.

As opposed to this, in a Virtual Gallery, a website could have thousands of visitors at the same time looking at the art pieces displayed, without much to worry about. Plus, getting a large volume of people on a website is way easier than cramming them in a normal gallery.

This might not matter at all, for artists, to be honest. You tell me.

But I’m sure this type of environment adds value to their Gallery, can get more visitors, and it’s very cost-efficient. 

Virtual Galleries even have a competitive edge

It’s true that modern art is controversial. But it’s also open to new solutions. And using online environments is a great way to show they are future-proof as well. When those environments make your gallery interactive, it’s even better.

How can a Virtual Gallery be interactive, and why?

You’ve heard about Virtual Tours so far. If you didn’t, make sure to check out our article about them here.

Virtual Tours are used by Big players to test out new concepts. Amazon uses it for a new approach to tourism, and Valentino uses it for online shopping in a society meddled by a certain pandemic.

But how will they work on a Virtual Gallery?

Like a charm!

As an artist, you would be able to showcase your artworks on the walls of a virtual gallery (maybe even your own), and not only.

Yes, people would be able to click the painting, read its description, size, see the artist who painted it, and yes they will be able to buy it as well.

But this is not even the interesting part.

Art is about the expression of feelings, values, thoughts, and emotions in a certain format. But some people don’t understand it.

People will understand you and your artwork

We know modern art is criticized quite a bit, and it has been for some time now.

But it’s time to get past that wall.

How?

So, you have your artworks displayed in your virtual gallery. Why not add more interactive features? It’s an online environment, after all, you can put whatever you want on display.

As an artist, you will be able to create a whole experience for your own exhibition.

You will be able to embed all types of formats such as video, photo, audio, text, etc.

Why?

To tell a story.

People who visit your gallery would better understand you and your artworks, as well as how they feel about it, and they would have a more immersive experience.

Imagine that, instead of a 3D room with some artwork displayed, you would actually transform it into an immersive virtual tour.

You could:

• Create an ambient by playing some music you put together in a Spotify playlist that is in tone with your art on display.
• Tell a story of the gallery through showing captions (accompanied by a narrator eventually).
• Embed YouTube videos where you talk about your artwork and what it means to you.
• Link to various interviews you had in the past, reviews of critics, awards, testimonials, even a comment section for each artwork so people would be able to express their feelings about the artwork and about you as an artist in a public medium.

And you could do so much more. Honestly, imagination is the only barrier here.

You could actually help them understand your vision of the world, your vision of each artwork, and help them empathize with you and your creations.

Some of the features that can be added were implemented by Valentino in their virtual shopping experience. We wrote more about it in our article, if you want to bat an eye on it.

Closing thoughts

The art industry is a very sensible one, and it always has been. Artists are known for their exquisite personalities and habits. But being stereotypically controversial, they have a strong vision of the world.

A virtual gallery would help them better express themselves and their vision to regular people in a way that they would be able to understand and empathize with.