Initiative aims to encourage global debate around contemporary art
London, UK – August 21, 2013 – SapientNitro, part of Sapient (NASDAQ: SAPE), today announced the launch of a social media campaign, in collaboration with The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), to encourage the debate around contemporary art. ICA’s Art Rules launches to the public at 3PM BST, and will be the first digital forum of its kind – provoking and encouraging a global conversation about what defines contemporary art in our modern culture.
Art Rules has been created by SapientNitro London to raise the visibility of contemporary art and bring it to a wider audience. The new platform – artrules.ica.org.uk – will offer everyone the opportunity to engage with and debate the subject of contemporary art directly with key figures from the worlds of art, film, architecture, performance and other art forms. It also brings together the contemporary art community with audiences from all walks of life to debate the question “what is art?” and share their definitions of contemporary art “rules”.
Every rule is open for discussion as users can respond with a comment, share socially or simply “agree” or “disagree”. The conversation bubbles up, literally, as each rule appears in a bubble on the homepage, pushing others to the sides and thereby creating a visual experience of the conversation. The more people agree with a rule, the larger the bubble will appear on the page, creating a visual hierarchy from which users can instantly identify the most popular discourse. Rules are shareable through Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, encouraging users to extend the discussion to their own social networks and create a far-reaching lively debate.
Audiences are also encouraged to use the hashtag #whatisart and interact with the ICA on social channels whenever they are provoked by what they see in the world around them.
Gregor Muir, Executive Director, ICA, says: “The ICA has always strived to cultivate thought and discussion around contemporary art and it is exciting for us to take this debate online. It is fantastic that everyone can engage in the art debate through this far-reaching digital forum. We look forward to seeing the results.”
Malcolm Poynton, Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro Europe, adds: “Creative culture is something we’re passionate about at SapientNitro and we believe this is just too damn important for us to stand on the sidelines and not get involved. Anyone that feels the same should jump into the conversation and share their view at #whatisart.
“We created Art Rules with the ICA to ignite the biggest, brightest, hottest, blazing, raging, crackling online conversation about art. Without art in our lives, the world would be a pretty dull place and yet in this always-on, connected world, the art conversation is confined to the physical environment of galleries and hasn’t connected with the younger generation online.”
About the ICA
The ICA supports radical art and culture. Through a vibrant programme of exhibitions, films, events, talks and debates, the ICA challenges perceived notions and stimulates debate, experimentation, creativity and exchange with visitors. Founded in 1946 by a group of artists including Roland Penrose, Peter Watson and Herbert Read, the ICA continues to support living artists in showing and exploring their work, often as it emerges and before others.
The ICA has been at the forefront of cultural experimentation since its formation and has presented important debut solo shows by artists including Damien Hirst, Steve McQueen, Richard Prince and Luc Tuymans. More recently Pablo Bronstein, Lis Rhodes, Bjarne Melgaard and Juergen Teller have all staged key solo exhibitions, whilst a new generation of artists, including Luke Fowler, Lucky PDF, Hannah Sawtell and Factory Floor have taken part in exhibitions and residencies. The ICA was one of the first venues to present The Clash and The Smiths, as well as bands such as Throbbing Gristle. The inaugural ICA / LUX Biennial of Moving Images was launched in 2012, and the ICA Cinema continues to screen rare artists’ film, support independent releases and partner with leading film festivals.
The ICA welcomes 400,000 visitors a year to its building on The Mall in the heart of London. The Director of the ICA is writer and curator Gregor Muir, author of Lucky Kunst.
About SapientNitro
SapientNitroSM, part of Sapient® (NASDAQ: SAPE), is a new breed of agency redefining storytelling for an always-on world. We’re changing the way our clients engage today’s connected consumers by uniquely creating integrated, immersive stories across brand communications, digital engagement and omni-channel commerce. We call it Storyscaping, where art and imagination meet the power and scale of systems thinking. SapientNitro’s unique combination of creative, brand and technology expertise results in one global team collaborating across disciplines, perspectives and continents to create game-changing success for our Global 1000 clients, such as Chrysler, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Lufthansa, Target and Vodafone, in 31 cities across The Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. For more information, visit www.sapientnitro.com.