This Digital Display Frame Is the Only Art You’ll Ever Need

Electric Objects
Electric Objects / Electric Objects

Buying a piece of original art is an investment. Do you really want to hang that experimental piece on your wall for what could be years, or will you tire of it in a month? For the less dedicated art fans, there’s a technological solution: digital art displays from Electric Objects that you can change at any time.

The company just released the second generation version of its product, the EO2, an LCD screen where you can display whatever art you want, from your doodles to a Van Gogh self-portrait to a brand-new digital piece from a contemporary artist.

The $300 art screen is similar to a Kindle designed specifically to display visual art, with a matte screen that can be viewed from just about any angle. An associated app allows you to control what's on display, and an ambient light sensor turns the screen off when it’s dark. You can even set a sleep schedule so it’s only on when you’re home.

To class things up a bit, you can frame your digital art in a variety of different wood types. The device has “ a real physical presence,” says Electric Objects founder Jake Levine. Like any other art you’d hang on your wall, “it doesn’t turn off when you’re done watching it.”

Levine’s goal is to make art more accessible to the masses, bringing together the meditative experience of going to a gallery with the attention-grabbing nature of the internet—though the masses still have to be willing to buy a $300 piece of tech designed only for displaying art.

Unless you want to load up your own art, you’ll probably want to buy in to the company’s new art subscription program, too, which costs $10 a month. The Electric Objects Art Club lets you explore new art commissioned specifically for the device and gives you access to the digital collections of museums that Electric Objects partners with, including the Getty and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.

It’s a pricey proposal for those who aren’t already invested in the art world, but if you already are the type to buy art and spend hundreds of dollars to frame it, it’s a relative bargain.

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