App allows your smart TV to be turned into an art gallery

Smart TV screens have revolutionalised the way you watch movies, news, sports and more. Now, imagine that big internet-connected space transform into an art gallery, where you can pick and buy works of art.

A Bengaluru-based startup has now dived into this new arena with its ImageIn App. Despite the immense potential of the smart TV screen space, not many apps have emerged to exploit it. Quite unlike the crowded smartphone ecosystem. But the people behind ImageIn had a different idea, turning online curators of art and photography exhibitions.

If you are an artist or a photographer, here’s how an exhibition through the app could make a difference: amplified viewership, no risks of damage and costs far lower than those charged by a physical gallery, as the startup founders put it.

Once an artist signs up for an ImageIn exhibit, he/she could display up to 18 individual artworks, explains founder Sriharsha Ganjam from ArtBuRt, the web portal linked to the app. The Smart TV App, which has an equivalent Mobile App, lets the artist/photographer choose the duration of the show on the new platform.

Launched in November 2019, the ImageIn Smart TV App is currently available for Android TVs and Amazon Fire TVs. On mobiles, the app could be downloaded from the Play Store.

A fine art photographer himself, Ganjam had found that hosting a physical art exhibit can get very expensive and laborious. “The risks far outweighs its returns. I wanted to do something that would make it easy for all artists to showcase their creations without minimising the possibility of making an actual sale. And that’s when smart TVs came into the picture,” he explains.

So, how does the economics work? “We charge a weekly fee for Rs 675 to host an exhibit. This includes listing the artwork for sale as well. The artist can put up an exhibit for as many weeks he or she intends to. In case of a sale, we charge a percentage commission on the selling price.”

Till date, the platform has hosted 13 photography and two art exhibits.