Instant image messaging startup Snapchat is gearing up to launch a new online art platform that will be based on augmented reality (AR). The main aim of this online initiative is to showcase the famous art installations located across the world in AR format. Snapchat has collaborated with renowned artist Jeff Koons, who is a self-confessed Snapchat fan, for this initiative.
On Tuesday morning the world woke up to new website art.snapchat.com that interestingly showed nothing but a countdown clock. Turns out that this new website with a ticking countdown clock will soon metamorphose into Snapchat’s new online AR art platform. The countdown’s expiration date & subsequent launch of the website has been smartly timed with Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel’s speech at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit. Apparently, Spiegel will officially launch this new website at this art summit.
Initially, Snapchat will showcase Jeff Koons’ famous art installations located at Central Park, Las Vegas, Sydney, and Paris on the website. Later, the image messaging company will invite interested artists from across the world to showcase their work on the platform.
This new initiative is a clear reelection of company’s growing interest in the new technology domain of AR & VR. Interestingly, the company had acquired an Israeli based AR startup Cimagine in December last year. But it is still too early to predict how Snapchat’s experimentation with AR and this new artistic initiative will play out. Nonetheless, this initiative certainly marks a new chapter for the Los Angeles based startup.
However, Snap Inc (parent company of Snapchat) cannot ill afford to endure any failure henceforth, since the company’s much anticipated IPO earlier this year turned out to be a huge dud. The company’s stock at NYSE has considerably lost its value since the IPO debut.