Zurich, Hong Kong, 12 February 2015 – Today, global financial services company UBS announced that version 2.0 of its contemporary art news app Planet Art will be released prior to Art Basel in Hong Kong, featuring with both the iPhone and iPad. The new iPhone app now allows an enhanced personalization of the content in a dedicated "My Stream" view, with data from thousands of artists, institutions, cities and events, thus presenting a tailored stream of art news and information to each user. First launched for iPad only during Art Basel in Miami Beach in December 2014, Planet Art is the first and only app to collect and distill global news about contemporary art.
Developed by UBS, Planet Art uses unique algorithms to read, index and objectively rank information from mainstream media, traditional art world news outlets, niche publications and blogs. Based on these methods, the app offers a snapshot of the most relevant and trending topics in contemporary art as reported in the media.
Continuously updated, Planet Art features a simple and intuitive design, organizing key stories from a diverse range of news sources within three categories—News, Features and The Market, helping seasoned professionals and beginning art enthusiasts alike to digest and stay up-to-date on the most topical art world information. With version 2.0, users will also experience improved search to find articles more intuitively and precise. A refined preferences section, called “My Stream,” will allow users to personalize their Planet Art tags according to their interests, in order to create a custom content stream.
“Clients rely on UBS’s business expertise to help provide them with clarity and direction within a complex international financial system. In the same way, Planet Art serves as an invaluable guide through a vast and often confusing system of contemporary art news sources and trends,” stated Johan Jervøe, Chief Marketing Officer for UBS. “We believe that critical insights and seeing the bigger picture are fundamental shared values between the art world and providing financial services.”
As an active participant in the field of contemporary art—with a renowned corporate collection, a record of investment in diverse international arts initiatives, and as global Lead Partner of the major modern and contemporary art fair Art Basel in all three of its worldwide venues—UBS developed Planet Art to provide its clients and the art world at large with a simple tool to navigate the growing and often fragmented landscape of art information available today.
Planet Art draws its content from RSS sources offering publicly available information. The content list is evaluated regularly and continues to grow over time. Highlights of some of the news sources currently featured in Planet Art include: The Art Newspaper; ARTnews; Art in America; ArtFCity; Art Asia Pacific (China); BBC Culture blog (UK); Financial Times (UK); The Guardian (UK); New York Observer’s Art & Gallerist; The New York Times; and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Planet Art 2.0 will also include several of the major Asia-Pacific-based news outlets, among them China Daily, The Straits Times, Asia Tatler, Japan Times, Korea Times and more.
For more information about Planet Art: www.ubs.com/PlanetArt
Download here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/planet-art/id937737095?ls=1&mt=8
For enquiries about UBS Planet Art:
Lucie Sherwood / Sylvia Chan, Sutton PR Asia
Email: lucie@suttonprasia.com / sylvia@suttonprasia.com
Tel: +852 2528 0792
For inquiries about UBS:
Mark Panday, Executive Director, Corporate Communications Asia Pacific
Email: mark.panday@ubs.com
Tel: +852 2971 8221
Notes to editors:
About UBS and Contemporary Art
UBS has a rich history of supporting cultural and artistic endeavors that enable active participation in the art world. We share our passion for contemporary art with our clients and the public through partnerships with leading cultural institutions, as well as the sponsorship of exhibitions at museums internationally. The depth of our commitment to cultural and educational programs gives us unique access to experts from the world's most esteemed museums, galleries and art fairs. These resources, augmented by in-house curators, help our clients, employees and the public explore, interpret and collect art. More than a sponsor or supporter of contemporary art, UBS participates in the international conversation about art and in the global art market and seeks to promote the cultural and creative development of art communities internationally.
About UBS
UBS draws on its 150-year heritage to serve private, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland. Its business strategy is centered on its pre-eminent global wealth management businesses and its leading universal bank in Switzerland, complemented by its Global Asset Management business and its Investment Bank, with a focus on capital efficiency and businesses that offer a superior structural growth and profitability outlook.
UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in more than 50 countries, with about 35% of its employees working in the Americas, 36% in Switzerland, 17% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 12% in Asia Pacific. UBS employs about 60,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).