Crowdsourced Artists Store Opens to the Public

The b-uncut store is open for business. Buy art t-shirts, shirts, gadgets, cards, posters and more. This is a critical milestone for b-uncut – the worlds leading artists network. Because money made from selling b-uncut Store products goes direct to the artists and b-uncut’s emerging art programs including grants, shows and sponsorships.

b-uncut is redefining the emerging art market for the benefit of both artist and buyer – and this is an innovative way to fund its initiatives, through the sale of artworks on everyday products – over the Web. The most democratic mechanism we can think of for the public to directly support the arts in general and artists in particular.

So spread the word and visit b-uncut.com today, click on ‘Store’ and get shopping; ’support our artists’. There is something in the b-uncut Store for everyone and products start at just a few pounds, dollars or euros.

Human Brands™ are everywhere

The Portobello film festival kicks off tonight at our Westbourne Studios! Big piece on Street art, got talking to sickboy a leading street artist from Bristol.

Turns out he was one of the first street artists to use a logo instead of a tag, known as the ‘Temple’ which can be seen on walls and wheelie bins worldwide. Human Brands has worked for sick boy, he is tipped as one of the street art movement’s most investable artists.

Worlds Greatest Living Painter Joins b-uncut

Ricardo Cinalli, arguably the worlds greatest living painter has joined b-uncut.

Leading art critics, including Brian Sewell, have called him the 21st Century Matisse. He’s a little shy – so we just recognize him as another cool artist that has joined the b-uncut movement.

One of the reasons Ricardo joined b-uncut is to support the artist – shift the balance – promote the creator. So join our cause – FAIRTRADE for artists.

Your Art, Our Store

Your art, our store – a preview. The b-uncut Store opens its doors next week. Shhhh…

b-uncut.com Launches International Artists’ Store

b-uncut, the leading crowdsourcing platform for artists, today launched a revolutionary artists’ store. It takes the already popular concept of a museum shop to a whole new dimension by offering hundreds of popular consumer goods products such as clothing, housewares, gadgets, cards, posters and more each designed with original art from b-uncut’s crowd of emerging, international artists.

And whereas museum shops are offline and promote the Masters and big name artists, the b-uncut Store is on the Web and supports emerging artists.

Lovers of art and those seeking everyday products at everyday prices designed with original art know when they buy goods from the b-uncut Store that they are supporting emerging artists from around the world – a FAIRTRADE FOR ARTISTS. For every Pound, Euro or Dollar spent at the b-uncut Store around 20% goes direct to the artist. Visit the b-uncut Store today and support both emerging artists and tomorrow’s art.

b-uncut Merchandise store

blur Designs has started work on b-uncut’s Merchandise store. Wearable, drinkable, usable art!

b-uncut Launches Art Tours

blur Group’s crowdsourcing platform for the art world has just launched a programme of art tours. Initially to Italy, these tours are for artists and art lovers and set in Rome, Florence and Le Marche.

blur Group has spent the last 2 years building a sizable crowd of quality, emerging artists from around the world and recently launched an art marketplace with them at b-uncut.com.

The Future of Fairtrade

The definition of Fairtrade is clear: “Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fairtrade.”

But we believe that the future of Faitrade goes beyond developing countries and includes many other kinds of workers; full time, freelance, part time and including artists, musicians, actors, writers, marketing consultants, designers and more. As a leader in Crowdsourcing we think that it can offer a better deal for most constituents of worker and knowledge producer – and a better contract, one not shackled by the constraints of permanent employ. For instance, b-uncut artists take a commission of 80% when their art is sold through the b-uncut Gallery, not the standard 50% offered by traditional gallery’s.

The Fairtrade movement has done a great deal for farmers and workers in the Third World. Its time to widen the initiative and improve the deal and conditions for all workers, be they creatives, artists, knowledge workers, factory employees or engineers. In the US, UK, France, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India or wherever. Crowdsourced together – unfettered and untethered. That is the future of Fairtrade.

The Future of Crowdsourcing – Small

Crowdsourcing has become an increasingly accepted term with examples bandied about such as Google using the analysis of Web links to crowdsource their search engine, Wikipedia crowdsourcing the planet to build the largest encyclopedia and Threadless crowdsourcing approaching a million people to design t-shirts. But what is the future of crowdsourcing? Well, we think it’s the power of small. We believe that small, niche, highly managed crowds organized in the right way will become virtual organizations. Why not build a marketing agency solely by crowdsourcing and remotely managing marketing professionals/consultants. Why not crowdsource writers and editors to build a next generation publishing company, artists to develop a new generation art market.

The key, we believe, is small, targeted, niche crowds attacking niche issues head on and repeatedly. There will always be a place for big crowds tackling one or two big problems – but this needs to be complemented with specialist crowds attacking specialist issues one after the other much as any agency, research centre or organization does today. The benefit of doing it with a managed crowd instead of legions of full time employees is lower cost, greater flexibility, a more international approach and the greater, larger collective intelligence. Indeed, it may be that the most successful, best managed, niche crowds will become the organization of tomorrow.

b-uncut.com The Gallery Where Art Breaks

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The worlds leading artist community has just become the Webs hottest art market.

Join us if you dare – www.b-uncut.com.

FAIRTRADE for Artists.

b-uncut.net Artists Invited

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b-uncut – where the worlds living artists hang online.

Join us if you dare. www.b-uncut.net.

Why blur Group is Important

As blur Group gets more of a following we increasingly get asked why what we are doing is important. It is both a fundamental and complex question to answer. I have spent the last ten years building large communities and marketplaces on the Web – consumer facing, business facing and some that mash both up. The thinking until now has been all about how you scale communities and marketplaces – how you reach critical mass. How you monetize the masses.

We believe that the new wave in community building is about the power of small – the beauty of boutique and about quality more than quantity. Our crowds (communities) are small, focused and valuable. We spend more time managing and filtering our communities than recruiting for them. And our recruitment is rifle shot, not scatter gun. Organic, not viral.

But then we have to, because blur Group is a leader in crowdsourcing – and crowdsourcing is all about monetizing the individual and combined outputs of the crowd. Not cashing in on the crowd itself – quite the opposite. We know that quality crowds equal quality outputs and we will only succeed through quality outputs, whether they come from artists or entrepreneurs or marketers. We work tirelessly with our crowds, supported by social media and community platforms, to help them earn a better living and make a bigger difference – whether they be dedicated, part time or freelance.

Some believe we have figured out how to scale services based businesses, others feel that we might have the secret to Web 2.0 marketplaces and some even think we are quietly and innocently changing the way business is done. Us, we just think we are blur, reinventing tomorrow, today.

New Art Marketplace live at b-uncut.com

The new b-uncut.com is live. As one of the world’s most vibrant and energetic communities of contemporary artists it has today shifted to online art community AND art marketplace. How fitting that this happened right as b-uncut recruited its 500th artist. b-uncut is now attracting 2 new artists a day from all corners of the world. As a result b-uncut is ready to not only provide its artists with a social media, virtual studio and community platform but also a platform to sell their art (through the b-uncut Gallery and Merchandise store), publish their books using the all new blur Media publishing label and get followed at b-uncut’s public blog. All of these can be accessed through the all new b-uncut.com.

b-uncut now has more artists supporting it than almost any gallery or gallery group in the world. As a result curators, art journalists, art foundations and prizes are starting to watch b-uncut’s artists and marketplace evolve. b-uncut is pioneering the concept of FAIRTRADE for artists.

Join us at the all new b-uncut.com.