The company of artist Jari Arffman, ArtArffman has licensed the Russian rights of documentary photography concept Bart to Photo Business News, a Russian company operating in St. Petersburg. Photo Business News provides the orders and intermediates them to be done by artist photographers approved by Photo Business News.
Combined with licensing The Baltic Institute of Finland is producing and organizing Bart-day in its project, Business Campus St. Petersburg, in the beginning of June for the Finnish companies operating in St. Petersburg. The Licensee, Photo Business News is one the speakers. The other feature connecting to the licensing of Bart in Russia is the Jari Arffman´s Bart-exhibition, which The Finnish Instute in St. Petersburg is organizing in the second half of this year in the gallery of the new Finland House in the historical centre of St. Petersburg.
The first Bart cultural export exhibition ended in The Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute in Oslo, Norway, in February. During the exhibition The Institute, ArtShortCut and Forum for kultur och naeringslivet organized BART-seminar in the headquarters of Statoil in Oslo: "BART - BUSINESS ART, Art as essential part of long-term business strategy".
The tour of Bart cultural export exhibitions continues at the moment in the Fotokelder gallery of The Photo Museum of the Tallinn City Museum, Estonia, until 15th of May. From Tallinn the exhibition - curated by the art historian Asko Mäkelä - travels to The New Art Museum of Pärnu, in which it is shown until the end of July. Both Bart-exhibitions in Estonia are organized by The Finnish Institute in Estonia. In October Bart is presented in bild.sprachen10 - The Fair of Applied Photography, which is part of the official program of European Capital of Culture Ruhr.2010.
Bart answers to a need
Bart is a new, distinctive, individual product name and operating model for documentary photography. Bart-artists take photographs for companies of the companies themselves. These series of framed black-and-white photographs are high quality both artistically and in their content, and the companies put them up on their own premises, for instance, in conference rooms and reception areas, and give them as corporate gifts.
"People and companies have a similar wish to understand themselves and what is happening around them. And when I capture the spirit of a specific company at a specific point in time, I can unite business and photographic art to create Bart, which tells us something about the functioning and values of people as well as companies", says Arffman. "The photographs convey the essence of each company to both employees and visitors, who can encounter themselves through encountering the image, which may result in a change of some sort. Like art in general, Bart is a personal experience and when successful, it can alter an individual through personal experience and insight. Art can transform companies as part of the society by transforming individuals, with good results, even if the company cannot add it to its balance sheet."
"Bart is a photographic artist´s celebration of work. The company uses art to demonstrate respect for its own work", says Art Historian Asko Mäkelä.
Bart is a unique concept that allows a company or an individual artist approved by Arffman to use Community Trade Mark BART by making a license agreement with Arffman's firm, ArtArffman. As far is known the license agreement is first of its kind in the field of photographic art.
ArtArffman is licensing Bart nationally and internationally to artist photographers and to companies at the field of photography and art.
www.bart.fi
