UBS Introduces BETA Version of Planet Art, an iPad App That Delivers Contemporary Art News to Global Audiences

Today, global financial services company UBS announced the release of Planet Art, a new iPad app that is the first and only app to collect and distill global news about contemporary art. Available free of charge from the Apple App Store, Planet Art will be introduced during the December 2014 opening of Art Basel in Miami Beach, where UBS welcomes collectors, curators, gallerists and general art lovers to experience the app in action during one of the art world’s largest and most exciting annual events.

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 presents the top-ranked information on trending topics as reported in the media.

Continuously updated, Planet Art offers a snapshot of the most relevant and trending topics in contemporary art. Featuring a simple and intuitive design, the app organizes key stories from a diverse range of news sources into 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. Users can personalize Planet Art to create a custom content stream focusing on locale, specific artists, galleries, museums and subjects and the app also can help users discover new interests.

"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. At the time of launch, highlights of some of 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. The Planet Art content list will be evaluated regularly and will grow over time.

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

UBS & Contemporary Art

Planet Art joins an extensive roster of contemporary art initiatives and programs in which UBS is engaged: the UBS Art Collection is one of the world’s largest and most important corporate collections of contemporary art; the firm continues to provide long-term global support for the premier international Art Basel shows in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong, for which they serve as global Lead Partner; and UBS collaborates with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation on the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative. These activities are complemented by a number of regional partnerships including the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland, the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, the Louisiana Museum in Denmark and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. UBS also provides its clients with insight into the contemporary art world through the UBS Art Competence Center and the UBS Arts Forum. The company’s long and substantial record of patronage in contemporary art actively enables clients and audiences to participate in the international conversation about art and the global art market through the firm’s contemporary art platform.

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).

Links www.ubs.com/art
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www.twitter.com/ubsglobalart