Dear Apple,
Bring art to the world and the world to art!
Add an 'Art' category to the App Store.
ENDORSE
ARTS-CENTERED APPS
The Louvre
MoMA
Poetics
MyMoon
Bubble Harp
Bloom
DeviantArt
Artsy
Kickstarter
Thicket
Baldessari
The Met
ArtStack
Christie's
STATEMENTS BY SIGNERS
Apple has built a reputation for being at the forefront of creative tech and providing platforms for artists and designers. Honoring this legacy and allowing Art to become a category of its own in the app store is a must at a time when art apps are an established form being collected by museums.
- Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of Digital Art, Whitney Museum of American Art
Steve Jobs sometimes called his computers works of art, and he inspired generations of digital creators with Apple’s elegant hardware and software. It would honor his passion for expanding the boundaries of art to add an Art category to the App Store.
- Scott Snibbe, whose apps are in the Whitney and MoMA’s permanent collection
Andy Warhol fused art and technology in exciting new ways throughout his artistic practice. It is our goal as an institution devoted to the life and work of Warhol to do just that, and an Art category in the App Store serves as a reinforcement of that purpose and encourages similar future innovation.
- Eric Shiner, Director, The Andy Warhol Museum
Apple defied the notion that music had to live on a disc and put a 1,000 songs in our pockets. The next generation of contemporary artists are working in mediums that defy notions of objecthood and materiality. It's time for Apple to add an Art category to the App Store because the ‘next big thing’ is to put an art collection in your pocket.
- Phillips Auction House
Art is its own category in life: creative geniuses throughout history haven't poured their souls and talent into creating Lifestyle, Education or even Photo & Video - they create Art. This isn't a small niche - everyone loves art, in one shape or form, and we should have an easier way to find the most beautiful, inspiring, and important cultural content on the App Store.
- ArtStack
DeviantArt is a massive community of tens of millions fitting every description, all deeply engaged, fascinated and pulled to the arts, nurturing the arts in everyone. It is a place where art starts for many. When they look for each other and for kindred minds they start with the word Art, as should Apple.
- DeviantArt
We're excited for the possibility of a dedicated App Store "Art" category, recognizing the growing importance of mobile devices in the hands of billions of people and Apple's critical role in making art accessible online with the help of galleries, museums and institutions, supported by technology and the Internet.
- Daniel Doubrovkine, CTO, Artsy
Digital art knows no boundaries, and software is more important than ever for expressing all sorts of things we call "art." There should be a category on the App Store to reflect that.
- Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky
We <3 the initiative to bring an Art category to the App Store. Let's help make it happen!
- Kickstarter
Eyebeam has worked to fuse art and technology for nearly 20 years -- in that time digital practice has become commonplace. An Art category in the App Store is an obvious benefit for creators as well as Apple. After all, it's artists that truly test and expand the boundaries of what Apple's machines can do.
- Roddy Schrock, Director, Eyebeam
Art and commerce don't have to be at odds - but neither do they have to be the same thing.
- Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist, writer, columnist
Storefront for Art and Architecture is focused on radical ideas that go beyond ideological, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. In order to achieve this mission, we need tools that break down those boundaries, and art is one of them. An "Art" category in the App Store? Absolutely!
- Eva Franch, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Storefront for Art and Architecture
Art opens doors for the eyes and the ears, to sensations, which are neither seen nor heard in every day life. Therefore apps, which are a new medium for sight and sound, could be the perfect gate to a new acoustic-visual universe. The App Store needs the new category »Art«.
- Peter Weibel, Chairman, ZKM Center for Art and Media
It's ironic that for all of Apple's visionary integration of design and engineering, they still fail to recognize and embrace the essential importance of art in our lives and to celebrate the marriage of art and technology that takes place on their platform, by giving Art its own category in the App Store.
- Julia Kaganskiy, Director, NEW INC at New Museum
Mobile applications are a continuation of the history and tradition of artists employing software as a medium. Adding an Art category to the app store would expose an incredibly broader public to these works.
- Ben Fino Radin, Media Conservator
For over thirty years I have witnessed artists' search for new forms of creative expression, and they are often the first to use the current technologies to transform and enrich culture. It's time to have an Art category among the apps, the medium more and more artists are exploring.
- Magdalena Sawon, co-owner, Postmasters Gallery, NYC
Apple's legacy of breaking new ground in technologies and tools that inspire creative expression is manifest in adding 'Art' to the App Store.
- Megan Newcome, Director of Digital Strategy, Phillips
The App Store does not quite seem to know what to make of these creations...the headings that Apple offers are almost comically wayward: Some of them are filed under Entertainment, some are called Lifestyle (whatever that means)...How about this: Let's be revolutionary."
- Patrick Frank, Art Historian, Poetic Codings
The arts need more visibility, we have several apps in the App store from the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and its hard to choose a category - entertainment isn't really right, neither is reference or education. We need 'Art’ !
- Gabby Shaw, Digital Media Manager, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Apple should create an Art category in the App Store. Duh!
- Mark Tribe, artist, founder of Rhizome and chair, SVA MFA Fine Arts
As one of the world's most influential forces in creativity, Apple has provided today's artists with transformative tools to make boundary-breaking work. Apple should support these artists by offering them a space to showcase their work on the App Store.
- Andrew Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief of Artspace
Saatchi Art would love to see a place for artists and galleries to connect with a larger audience of art enthusiasts!
- Saatchi Art
Aura’s mission is to increase engagement with art everywhere, which begins with remembering the art you see and capturing affective responses. The core of our app depends on understanding this as an arts-centered emotive experience. Apple, please create an 'Art' category. It's important to human culture.
- Aura
I already have several art apps and would be great if they could be in their ideal category.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Artist
By giving Art its own category, Apple has the opportunity to make art part of an every day conversation and as ubiquitous as music.
- Vango
It’s always painful to categorize our artworks as “Entertainment.” This is an opportunity for Apple to give people a place to discover Art and showcase creative new uses of their technology.
- Joshue Ott, Interval Studios, creator of Thicket and the Variant apps
I'm signing because art matters, art is online, and Apple should be on it.
- Fabienne Nicholas, Head of Consultancy at Contemporary Art Society
At Sedition, we deliver limited edition artworks for screens by some of the world’s greatest contemporary artists. Our new iOS app is the recommended platform for collectors to view their works and it needs a place in the App Store alongside apps by museums, artists, art businesses, and platforms for discovering, experiencing, collecting and creating art. Apple, please add Art to the App Store!
- Sedition Art
The art world was slow to catch on in terms of technology but over the past 5 years, this industry has exploded. The amount of startups, platforms and apps is hard to keep track of and an Art category in the App Store is an obvious, even necessary step to help the many art enthusiasts and professionals out there find the tools they didn't even know existed.
- Curiator
NEWS
November 16, 2015
Why the Apple App Store Needs an "Art" Category
Publisher: PopMatters
Read More >>
November 16, 2015
The Push to Include an “Art” Category on Apple’s App Store
Publisher: PSFK
Read More >>
November 15, 2015
If Apple Cares So Much About Design, Why Does the App Store Ignore Artists?
Publisher: Motherboard
Read More >>
November 15, 2015
Artists to Apple: Add an "Art" Category to the App Store, Already!
