{"id":16108,"date":"2024-07-02T10:09:53","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T08:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/?p=16108"},"modified":"2024-07-30T10:58:15","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T08:58:15","slug":"artcrush-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingkong-mag.com\/en\/artcrush-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Artcrush Gallery, when art comes to town"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nAn art gallery which gatecrashes the public space by means of advertising displays. That is the passion-driven project launched during the summer of 2022 by Mathieu France. An entrepreneur in the billboard display sector since the age of 22, he observed his profession evolve during the pandemic. \u2018I realised that my mission in life was to colour that of others in extraordinary ways,\u2019 explains the entrepreneur.\n\n\r\n<\/p>\n\n\n

Mediafield, his billboard display company, already specialised in large advertising hoardings. Including hand-painted frescoes, such as the one which occupies an entire flank of an apartment block on the way out of Brussels, along the Herrmann-Debroux viaduct. \u2018People react very positively to art in marketing; so, I wondered why not simply bring art, without the commercial aspect, into digital billboards?\u2019 explains Mathieu France. \u2018People are at a bus stop, at a red light in a car, and whilst they are there, they are looking at an advertising hoarding, but instead of an advert, it\u2019s a work of art, which might affect them in some way. In a way, we are bringing art outside of the exhibition venues.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mathieu France \u00a9 Maxim Termote<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Art in public spaces, from Brussels to Times Square<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A shrewd idea was the genesis of the project: why not contact various billboard display companies in Belgium and suggest using their unsold spaces to display works of art?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artcrush Gallery<\/a> set out to unearth artists on X\/Twitter. The first call for projects offered the artists selected the opportunity to be displayed on a wall of the Gare du Midi train station in Brussels. The call immediately went viral and the experiment was repeated in Ghent, and then via billboard display companies in Times Square, as well as in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Jeanne Gillain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u00a9 Jeanne Gillain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 2023 the project underwent a significant step change. Between April and November, Artcrush Gallery launched a world tour during which 50 artists were exhibited across 10 cities, such as Melbourne, London, Lagos, Miami and Tokyo. This global tour not only succeeded in promoting emerging artists such as Laurent Castellani, Farrah Carbonell and Bongdoe (to only mention three of them), but also enriched the public space of the participating cities by offering passers-by original artistic experiences. The exhibitors are for the most part steeped in the digital arts, but all types of artists can be exhibited, be their art digital or physical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Artcrush Gallery has signed agreements with billboard display companies on the five continents, such as Clear Channel in Belgium and oOh!media in Australia. These partnerships today offer continuous visibility to 800 artists exhibited by the gallery since its opening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My mission in life is to colour that of others in extraordinary ways.<\/p>\nMathieu France<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Art, genuinely accessible to all<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the strengths of the business model implemented by Artcrush Gallery is the difference in the costs of exhibiting in comparison with a physical gallery. \u2018Because the hoardings do not belong to us, we do not ask for payment for their use,\u2019 points out Mathieu France, \u2018which allows us to sell our exhibitions at a tenth of the price.\u2019 The costs incurred by the clients thus cover the formatting of the files to be exhibited and the video reportage produced with the social networks in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Jeanne Gillain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And therein lies the whole power of a gallery which defies the borders: if you exhibit at Artcrush Gallery, you go beyond the confinement of a fixed space to reach out to a wider public which would not necessarily make their way into an art gallery. \u2018Private bodies, but also public ones, such as embassies, may be interested in showcasing artists from their countries,\u2019 the entrepreneur illustrates. \u2018We can thus hold local, regional or global exhibitions with an impact which may be tenfold thanks to the billboards.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This impact is guaranteed by Artcrush Gallery. Each day, the works exhibited are viewed by an estimated roughly 2 million people, who would otherwise not go to a museum or to a gallery. In addition to its network of 1,300 screens active on a daily basis, it possesses the necessary contacts to have access to approximately 100,000 hoardings across the entire planet, should a gallery wish to exhibit one or several of its artists internationally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the visibility on the streets and in public buildings, Artcrush Gallery produces video reportages of the works exhibited so that the client may communicate on the social networks. Through these initiatives, the objective is clear: to take art to where the people are and thereby develop their interest and their curiosity about the world of art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artcrush, close to the people, but also interactive<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the month of May, Artcrush Gallery finally inaugurated its first physical gallery at the heart of the capital, in Ixelles. In it can be discovered the physical and digital artworks of the artists who had previously been exhibited on the advertising hoardings. Artcrush Gallery is nevertheless a gallery like no other. To celebrate the opening of the Ixelles space, it organised a treasure hunt across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team of Artcrush curators, led by Brian Beccafico, selected seven Brussels artists from a diversity of backgrounds, whose works were exhibited by means of 1,000 advertising screens, working in tandem with Clear Channel and its #PlatformForArt initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83c\udf1f Big reveal!

WE ARE OPEN \ud83d\udc40

We're excited to announce the opening of our new gallery in Brussels, a vibrant space where physical and digital art collide.
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To kick things off, we've launched a city-wide treasure hunt, inviting everyone to explore and collect unique digital\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/tF2UKbMuYk<\/a><\/p>— Artcrush Gallery (@artcrushgallery) June 12, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>