We group our photos with hashtags, organize our findings under specific Pinterest boards, and save our files under particular formats to maximize its quality. It is, therefore, quite backward to see that we still organize our websites majorly under .com. Especially for artists, who often express and display their works in the digital world, their name and their relationship with art should be clear at first glance, so that searches are accurate and their unique identity can be secured.
In early December 2016, the .art domain was established by Ulvi Kaimov, and art professionals were able to apply for this digital identity. This included not only individual artists but also cultural institutions, art publishing platforms, and other major art organizations, making .art the “new digital dress code for the art world.’’
Currently used by “the Fondation Cartier and Centre Pompidou in France, the Guggenheim Museum and LACMA in the USA, the Serpentine Galleries and TATE in the UK, the art fair EXPO CHICAGO, the Swiss luxury watch brand Rolex, the French fashion powerhouse Chanel, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and French insurance company AXA, as well as tech giants Apple”, .art’s affiliation is building up to become a very strong belief.
Shen Wei, a Chinese artist, has joined the .art affiliation to stop the common mix-up of his name with another photographer who has the same name; and other adopters have joined to build sister sites from their main brand page, so that these projects can be given with an additional web presence.
.Art successfully groups the possibilities of “creating, launching, advertising, increasing traffic, re-branding, protecting one’s identity” together, and the general public can also register their name on .art starting from the 10th of May 2017.
