“In September, Look Lateral is launching a blockchain-powered app, with which anybody can find out the price of any artwork and invest in it as little as £5,” Weir explains.
He notes that today the “art market is expanding very quickly. For the first time since 2014, the global art economy grew with $63 billion (£47.3 billion) in total sales in 2017, which represents a 12% growth from 2016, but it has the potential to grow even more if it were more transparent, more accessible and more liquid.”
This is exactly what Look Lateral is aiming to achieve, states Weir, who was present at the TEKSystems Blockchain Networking Event in London last night. Weir explains that anybody will be able to download the app and with it “all you need to do is point your camera at an artwork. Within 15 minutes it will come back to you with the current price of the artwork and how fractionalised it is.”
He continues: “If you’re interested, the app will then notify the owner of the artwork, be it a museum, a gallery or a private person, and direct you to a platform from which you can invest in the piece you have selected. The platform releases the value allowing investment without moving the artwork.”
The amazing thing is that anybody will, for example, be able to own a fraction of a Picasso or a small part of the Sixtine Chapel, adds Weir. He concludes: “Through Fimart, Look Lateral is not only democratising the world art, but also ending false authenticity and fraudulent pricing, which have plagued the art market for centuries. Scarce availability of original documents, limited public access to archives, incongruences among authenticating experts and often an utter lack of information have prevented this from changing.”
Look Lateral’s Fimart ICO will be available soon and you can register your interest here.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.