Artworks can exist in many different ways - performance, physical, commercial, non-commercial, etc. Our initial need was a solution that provided a simple user experience for to manage playinghouse's collections and exhibitions.
Using Shopify product entires as a source of truth to manage artworks (via Shopify Connect to sync products), and Sanity for content, artist profiles, and linking artworks with exhibition, we were able to formulate a solution that provided an aesthetic ethos.
After several iterations of design, we agreed on visuals that matched the spirit of the group and allowed for enough flexibility to render a diverse set of artistic styles. In artwork, there is typically need to generalize the platform for displaying art in order to avoid visual bias - we pushed that boundary slightly in a gracious way.
At the moment, we have several methods in our toolkit to display artworks, but we plan to continually work together to evolve exhibition types in the future to adapt for new types, and user experiences.
Currently displayed on the homepage is a representation of a digital exhibition. (An in-person show is coming in Spring 2025, please keep an eye out!)
