Subject: Art 36 Basel - RFID - No Borders for Art / We are not the CIA
From: Messe Schweiz
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 15:16:54 +0200




Art 36 Basel is making broad use of RFID tags to convey information about the individual pieces to visitors and to collect and distribute personal information about visitors and potential customers. At Art 36 Basel, all Dealers can monitor their data immediately in real-time via the Internet (amount of visitors to their gallery, sales of their gallery and other galleries, etc.).

"Art 36 Basel wants to be a "test bed" for RFID  trials involving "consumers". RFID is fine for fine art objects, but not for people. We are not the CIA" Samuel Keller, Director Art Basel

For Art 36 Basel DELL, SAPAGO, BMW, UBS, BVLGARI, UBERMORGEN.COM, SWISS are providing the necessary funding, infrastructure and the credibility for this revolutionary art, cultural affirmation & technlogy project.


Using the Art-FID system from Sapago, the RFIDs (Radio Frequency Identification) are attached to the art works, and visitors use a pen-shaped tag reader in combination with a Dell Axim handheld to read a piece's unique ID number and call up its information.

While this would be a convenient system on its own in that ars gratia ars sort of way, let's remember the business end of art and realize there's an ulterior motive here - gallery owners hope to convert more visitors into customers by removing the often uncomfortable act of having to ask curators or staff about pricing.

Additionally a dynamic pricing system can be established, customized prices for the buyers depending on the financial situation and the buying power of the client. So visually spoken, the client walks through the exhibition and the prices will change only for his eyes, customized to his financial capabilities.

Globally spoken, RFID technology is gaining momentum, enabling galleries and museums to track assets and view supply-chain information from data transmitted via radio waves from antennas on  chips affixed to artworks.

With this project, Art 36 Basel also aims to bring an experience of new digital art (media art, net.art) to the art fair and to the galleries, collectors and it's visitors. Again the avantgarde of digital art [UBERMORGEN.COM] is used as a testing facility and the net.art scene is used as ground-breaker for this technology. The idea is to use the art community to soft launch consumer critical RFID activities and sedate public awarness.

It's time to ask Art Basel if there's a tag in your bag.



Art Basel Media Information is available under:

Art Basel, Communication, Peter Vetsch, Marlen Melone oder
Nathalie Riggenbach, CH-4005 Basel, Tel. +41 58 200 20 20,
Fax +41 58 206 31 30, info@ArtBasel.com, www.ArtBasel.com


For digital avantgarde, negative affirmation & media hacking contact:

UBERMORGEN.COM, Hans Bernhard, lizvlx
+43 650 930 00 61, officeR@ubermorgen.com, www.ubermorgen.com




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