CEO & Founder of Artisfact Limited

VOLTA Voices is a recurring interview series with vanguards of the contemporary art world, whose insights into their experiences, concerns, and practices exemplify the very best of creative culture today. More than simply experts, these friends of VOLTA are supporters, colleagues, friends, family.

In this edition, Kamiar Maleki talks to Maryna Rybakova, an art & technology entrepreneur, and the CEO & Founder of Artisfact Limited, the company behind the Artsted project. Read the interview as they speak about the benefits and limitations of technology and how AI might define tomorrow’s blue-chip artists.

Kamiar Maleki: Dear Maryna, tell us a bit about yourself and your journey in the art world.

Maryna Rybakova: My journey in the art world probably starts at a very young age, when I first encountered the fascinating and magical worlds of the Renaissance and Impressionism. It grew into a full-scale passion when I started my bachelor’s degree majoring in Cultural Heritage, I then interned at a museum (The Museum of Marc Chagall) and was a frequent gallery hopper. The world of art was always a mysterious space to me, and the art market – the quintessence of that. In an effort to finally understand the intricate passageways and the secret modus operandi of this industry I then joined a Masters Degree course in Arts Management and Economics, expecting to find the answers to all of the questions I had. Spoiler alert, I found out that not every question I was struggling with had an answer, and out of one of these existential questions the Artsted project was born.

Kamiar Maleki: There are quite a few online platforms out there, how does Artsted differ from Artsy, Artland or artnet, just to name a few competitors? What is your mission and your values?

Maryna Rybakova: Indeed, the online platforms in the art market have had a blast over the past 10 years, not to mention the recent advent of NFTs. As a startup we have pivoted a few times, trying to find the right market-product fit, and building something that would actually be resolving an active “pain” for our end users: both artists and collectors. A main differentiating factor in what we do is how we use AI algorithms to make projections of artists’ markets and prices – a fact-based explanation of the way their markets are shaped by their professional milestones. Like with any new business, our vision stems from a very existential question that we built our business model around: “Why does artwork X cost Z amount”? And that’s the question we are strategically responding to with our data analytics algorithms, while our values are bringing further transparency and trust to transacting in the primary market.

Kamiar Maleki: Art creating and art perceiving is always personal, and each artwork resonates differently with each person. How do you think AI can influence the definition of taste and its reception?

Maryna Rybakova: Indeed, the AI algorithms can’t really influence the definition of taste of the general public, it can however superficially detect certain stylistic trends – for example, crawling through thousands of best-selling lots in contemporary evening sales and finding visual similarities in brush strokes, use of colour, subjects. But, once again, there is more to art than the visual component – there is also the conceptual one, that some may argue is way more important. So, at Artsted we rely on human “third parties” for conceptual taste-making and discerning the best creators in that sense. We base our market projects on the opinion and vetting of the gatekeepers of the art world like cultural institutions, non-profits, museums, independent spaces, artist residencies – a whole array of actors in the space that are not working in a commercial setting.  Our algorithm does exactly the job of benchmarking the careers and professional progress of emerging and mid-career artists, with that we are able to make an estimate of their market performance and demand.

Kamiar Maleki: At VOLTA Art Fair we collaborate with galleries representing and investing in artists and their careers. How does Artsted challenges this traditional relationship? And do you see Artsted as a beneficiary or competitor?

Maryna Rybakova: As part of my vision starting Artsted, I was convinced that the relationship between the artist and the gallerist would undergo a major transformation in the following years. Early 2020 we at Artsted promoted the idea of “artrepreneur” as someone who we saw as our target user – an independent artist looking to foster their career outside of the committed gallery scheme, and rather spreading their presence across digital and physical platforms with different types of representation and business models.

Fast forward to 2021 and we see the NFTs market blow up giving thousands of artists a space to realize their potential in a totally independent way – connecting and transacting directly with collectors over the blockchain. On NFT marketplaces artists get up to 95% of proceeds of each sale they make, not to mention the subsequent resale royalties – this is incredibly appealing compared to the gallery model where the artist’s cut is on average 50%, while the rest goes to cover the costs of keeping a brick-and-mortar space and running programming. So, at Artsted we are in the midst of this transformation, being at the support of artists who are looking for more independence – but also encouraging the galleries that are willing to experiment with the new types of business models, collaborating with marketplaces like ours.

Kamiar Maleki: Artsted supports the VOLTA Spotlight Prize, an art prize awarded to NFT art at VOLTA New York. How do you see NFTs impact on the art market in the future?

Maryna Rybakova: I believe that the NFTs and the ecosystem that is created around this new medium is bringing about a generational transformation into the art market, which is at the very beginning of its journey. Our vision with the VOLTA Spotlight Prize is that of bridging the traditional vetting institutions of the art world to the array of new artists working in digital media on the blockchain, encouraging research and curation of digital art. It is easy to dismiss NFTs as “a speculative bubble” or “pixelled punks” that are traded purely as a digital commodity. However, our mission is also to highlight a different side of that scene – fostering long-term commitment and supporting digital artists with real conceptual and aesthetic vision.

Kamiar Maleki: Do you collect art yourself? And which advice would you give to the next generation of collectors that are making their first steps into the art world, especially in these current times?

Maryna Rybakova: Yes! I certainly do – with whatever physical space I have at my disposal: my small collection is mostly figurative visual arts, painting, and sculpture made by emerging artists, plus I own a collection of NFTs, something I have started in early 2021. Envisioning the Artsted platform and all its functions, of course, I appealed to my own experience and needs as an emerging collector. Both millennials and even more so, Gen Z are very fact-based, I like to say that we grew up being able to find answers to any question on Google, run instant fact-checking or due diligence using online sources. On Artsted the AI-based Art Advisory serves as unbiased reassurance that helps make a purchase decision, to that target of collectors. Our mission in terms of empowering the new art buyers is to provide them with real-time information that ultimately helps build trust and encourage them to commit to supporting artists and the industry art large.

Artsted and VOLTA Art Fair will deliver a $2,500.00 grant to be awarded to an artist presenting NFT art. The VOLTA Spotlight Prize, supported by Artsted will be awarded during VOLTA New York in May 2022. 

Follow Artsted on Instagram at @artstedcom and connect with Kamiar Maleki at @kammaleki.