What is The Exhibit? Features and Benefits

The Exhibit is a cost-effective platform where curators, artists, commercial galleries and cultural institutions can easily curate compelling exhibitions online, share them to social media, attract global audiences, and sell original artwork all without needing to find an exhibition space or covering the overheads traditionally involved with hosting an exhibition.

Our vision is to remove the barriers faced when exhibiting art and objects and in doing so, rethinking the need for gallery representation and disrupting the traditionally elitist role of the art dealer.

We also want to make it easy for cultural institutions to share their hidden collections with art lovers, students, academics and history buffs around the world.

A platform for all curators

The Exhibit is a platform where anyone can take the role of exhibition curator and create their own online exhibition on The Exhibit, whether they’re a professional or amateur artist, a freelance curator, an arts student, a dealer gallery, or a cultural institution such as a museum or archive.

Exhibitions can be self-curated exhibitions of your own artwork, solo and group shows where you curate the work of other artists, or exhibitions showcasing historical art and objects from the collections of public and private institutions.

Encourages art collectors

The Exhibit aims to completely change the way art collectors browse online. No longer will they have to miss out on an artwork for their collection if they can’t visit the opening night or have to try their luck at being the first to comment “sold” below an artwork image on social media. Now, regardless of where they are located, they will be able to enjoy the complete exhibition experience and collect the artwork they love.

Puts the Exhibition first

The Exhibit is not designed as just another e-commerce website for art. It is not about listing individual artwork or objects online until they sell, but creating a platform for exhibiting online.

Each online exhibit includes all the best features of a physical gallery exhibition (a temporary duration, an opening night, wall blurbs and a title wall) but matched with the flexibility and technological advantages of being digital.

Is social

The Exhibit let’s exhibitors easily promote exhibitions to their followers on social media while engaging new audiences online. Each exhibition has its own landing page and URL where online traffic can be directed. Website viewers can also share and promote their favourite exhibitions to their own network.

Is global

The Exhibit allows artists, curators, galleries and institutions to build digital exhibition experiences which aren’t limited by geographic boundaries or their audience’s physical access to an exhibition venue. And, art collectors can view and purchase artwork from exhibitions which they would never be able to visit in person.

Is cost-effective to use

The Exhibit provides a much needed platform where artists, curators, galleries and institutions can cost effectively exhibit contemporary art and historical objects without the overheads of running or renting a physical exhibition space. It also provides commercial artists, curators and galleries with an e-commerce solution without needing to develop or manage their own.

Challenges the exhibition status quo

By design, The Exhibit opens-up the exhibition creation process, shifting control away from the elite art dealer or dealer gallery. Artists have the power to curate their own exhibitions and when they do partner with other galleries and curators, The Exhibit makes it easy to define their own revenue share arrangement for each exhibition. The Exhibit also divides the sale value of each artwork sold between both bank accounts making the financial management of each exhibition a piece of cake.

Encourages new ways of working

The Exhibit allows collaborations to take place between artists, curators & galleries regardless of their global location; no longer will exhibitors need to be geographically close for an exhibition to take place. The curator or gallery doesn’t even need to physically receive the artworks to “hang” an exhibition and artists can ship their works directly to collectors when they sell them… without even having to wait for the exhibition to close.

Combines the online with the offline

The Exhibit has also been designed so online exhibitions can run in conjunction with offline exhibitions. Your online exhibition can promote the offline location of your exhibition, playing a significant role in attracting wider audiences into your physical exhibition space.
The Exhibit can even be used in the gallery space to provide information to visitors via their phones and as a sales payment platform without the need for expensive POS equipment.

But it isn’t…

The Exhibit isn’t attempting to replicate the enthralling experience of visiting an exhibition in person. It’s also not trying to be just another art auction or e-commerce platform for Artists to list and sell their work. Instead, we’re aiming to give artists and curators another [better] tool in their belt to reach their audience online with our purpose built exhibition platform, while also allowing art lovers and collectors to experience exhibitions in an engaging and captivating way, no matter where they’re located in the world.