Photo by Magnus.net
The entrepreneur and book author Magnus Resch has founded the app Magnus, which has been described as the “Shazam of the art world.” With the mission to democratise access to the art world, Magnus allows everyone, from experienced to amateur art connoisseurs, to know about the artists, the prices, the history, and other relevant information about the artwork exhibited. The app, which has been running since 2013 in New York, London and Berlin, works through a digital image-recognition software that was popularised by Vivino, an app for the wine-lovers. Magnus catalogues all existing pieces of art in order to make the information publicly available. It relies on users taking photos of art in galleries and fairs, a behaviour that Resch considers to be already engrained in gallery-goers, which is a model similar to Wikipedia.
With Magnus art buyers can now easily view the price of an artwork through the app and compare it to the artwork’s previous prices in real time. Art lovers who are not necessarily interested in purchasing the artworks could also simply gather more information about the piece or get suggestions on which gallery to see next. We’re still yet to see if this transparency will revolutionise the art world but until then Magnus will serve as a good ice-breaker at openings.
How the app works
More info on magnus.net