Turn Your Flat Screen TV into Artwork with ShinyArt

Monika Jansen May 25, 2011 Tweet

Flat screen TVs prominently displayed over a fireplace or on a wall in an otherwise beautifully appointed room are the bane of interior designers (and those interested in design) everywhere. San Francisco-based startup ShinyArt wants to turn that big black canvas into something you want to look at when you’re not actually watching it.

The brainchild of art historian Kristy Phillips, ShinyArt provides an online platform for clients to rent and stream video art onto their flat screen televisions. Although the system is currently focused to serve individual homes, they are getting a lot of inquiries from institutional/public spaces such as clubs, hotels, and restaurants.

For those of us who tune out advertising (probably all of us) and/or don’t care about sports other than the Olympics and World Cup of soccer (I know I’m not the only one!), ShinyArt is solving a major problem: the lack of engaging content on flat screens in public spaces.

As a rule, corporate lobbies, restaurants, convention centers, and hotels are usually faced with few options when it comes to content on their interior screens. They end up turning to advertising, which we pretty much tune out, or sports, which turns even the most discerning spaces towards a “sports bar” aesthetic.

Contemporary moving-image art on a screen, on the other hand, maintains the exclusivity and uniqueness of a public space without selling a thing besides that specific experience.

ShinyArt is one of our showcased startups at Tech Cocktail San Francisco tomorrow night, so be sure to stop by and learn more about this cool service.