Autumn in Germany means time for art: From 24 through 27 October, 2014 the ART.FAIR, Germany’s largest art fair, will be held in Cologne along with the BLOOM. In addition to galleries, it features international young artists of all types from the creative economy. Even in the weeks leading up to the fair, there are lots of events and exhibits well worth a look. One takes place over four weeks in Cologne’s Belgian quarter in the Arty Farty Gallery. As of October 18, the gallery becomes the headquarters of ART BEEKN, a unique project at the interface of art, lifestyle and technology.

ART BEEKN: Popup gallery and digital playground
ART BEEKN presents a total of five exhibitions from 16 well-known international artists – including Maya Hayuk, Will Barras, Raymond Lemstra, Low Bros, Brandon Boyd (who many may know as a member of the band Incubus) and Orilo from the DOMA collective. The bandwidth runs from fine art to street art – including numerous affordable works for the less well-heeled.

ART BEEKN unifies urban art with the urban lifestyle: parallel to the art exhibition the Arty Farty Gallery also has space for a concept store with fashion and fixie bikes, art books and music from The Good Will Out (sneakers), We the People (fixie bikes), Melting Pot Music (music label), Kerbholz (glasses), Turbokolor (streetwear) and Gingko Press (publisher).

With an extensive accompanying programme of interviews with artists, art events – from live painting to video and light installations – and regular live concerts and DJ sets, ART BEEKN offers visitors a whole array of high points.

Art 3.0
Besides the art, so-called beacons play a central role at ART BEEKN: small Bluetooth transmitters installed in the exhibitions and which open entirely new paths of access to art. As a visitor draws near, the catalogue page for a piece and the biography of the respective artist is automatically transmitted to their iPhone.

With the help of the free ART BEEKN iPhone app, visitors to the gallery can head off on an adventure of discovery and continually unlock new content – from exclusive short interviews to making-of videos. Another highlight: The ART BEEKN app allows visitors to leave their own personal commentary on each individual piece – allowing for the first digital discussion of art with all the other exhibition visitors. The iBeacon technology developed by Apple has already been applied to a wide range of user scenarios, but hardly ever really been used in practice. ART BEEKN is therefore also a technology first.

So if you find yourself in Cologne, or plan to travel there to visit the art fair, don’t miss the Arty Farty Gallery!

For more information visit www.art-beekn.de