Art can seem difficult to comprehend, especially when you are a non-art major or a novice in the field. However, the seeming distance between art and the general public can be minimized when a few brilliant and eager minds gather to make a difference. Five zealous friends have become engaged in a project to bring art and the public together, to share ideas and to achieve their goals by creating what is now called ARTARIUM.
ARTARIUM is a compound word of “art” and “-arium.” The word “art” maintains its common meaning and “-arium” acts as a suffix denoting a location or a receptacle.
“The company’s name can be simply thought of as an art ‘aquarium,’ where people can enjoy art in a way similar to how they watch fish in an aquarium,” said Kim Jun-sang (Dongguk University, 4) who is the current CEO of ARTARIUM.
ARTARIUM began with a question that most students interested in art have had.
“A question of ‘What if? What if art was actually something that is easy and close to our life?’ popped into my mind,” Kim said.
“Then on, I had a yearning to develop a place where people could communicate openly with art and to challenge myself in creating what I purely wanted to do before graduating.”
Every aspect of ARTARIUM’s Web site is interconnected with social networking services, which makes the interaction between artists and the public much easier.
“By posting interviews with artists and offering diversified cultural contents on the Web site, we try to provide many opportunities for the public to approach art without the pressure of facing the unknown,” Kim said.
Moreover, ARTARIUM is known for its unique way of designing and managing its products. When artists upload their works to share on the homepage, people freely evaluate and give out points to the artworks. The grading points range from one to five, and the artists with the highest total grading point seize the chance to popularize their works. ARTARIUM then designs its products with the works of the artists. In the process of grading, the system of ARTARIUM enables the public and the artists to interact with one another.
“Products we make are mostly daily life items,” Kim said.
“Since we believe that art that is reachable to all people, we chose to produce a mobile phone case, as our first product.”
ARTARIUM is planning to hold an exhibition, where the artists and the public can come together and communicate with each other.
Jung Ji-hye, one of the founding members of ARTARIUM, showed her enthusiasm towards the upcoming exhibition as an artist who will also display her works.
“The theme of this exhibition is ‘Comma’ or ‘Rest.’ The main focus of the exhibition is to provide a time for today’s busy people to rest while enjoying our artworks at the same time,” Jung said.
The founding members of ARTARIUM continue their activities to reach their final goal, which is to make the world a better place.
“We learned that the true value of business could be evaluated not by how much the company earned but through people’s appreciation towards its activities,” Kim said.
“To make such dream come true, ARTARIUM is also supporting the artists by funding 10 percent of the total profit to their work. ARTARIUM will continue to provide the necessary bridge for new artists to connect with people and work as a deliverer of art to make the world a better place.”
The upcoming exhibition will take place from June 13 to 19 at the Insa Art Plaza. The ARTARIUM exhibition will display works by nine different artists based on a shared theme. For further information on ARTARIUM’s products, cultural projects and artist interviews, visit the homepage (http://www.artarium.net).