Atfu, the art matchmaker

In July 2022, Atfu (A toutes fins utiles) was born, a free app for swapping artworks between artists. In two years, we've become a community of 8,000 artists, and over 2,000 artworks have been exchanged. Today, we open our doors to you. On Atfu, you can acquire works by offering your best price or, failing that, your best skills: website development? legal advice, osteo sessions? Before we tell you more, let's discover the project through the voices of those who have been doing it for 2 years. Here's how, thanks to your support, we're going to get there: November 2024: The application is now open to all, enabling artists to continue swapping with each other, but also to sell their work and receive swap proposals. Atfu is a matchmaker, a creator of opportunities, and an extraordinary platform for discovery. Do you love art? Got room above your sofa? There's only one thing left to do: support our project and.... December 2024: There are over 9,000 works on the app, and no algorithm to give all artists the same chance to be discovered. So that everyone can find the work they're looking for, we'll be developing filters to sort works by type, format and geolocation. It will also be possible to send an anonymous instant message to an artist whose work you like. The way artists behave on the app gives us a glimpse into the tastes of contemporary artists. Based on this, we have created the first artist-made rating, the Atfu rating. We put it at their service, and that of anyone wishing to buy art. Thanks to the Atfu quotation, we can now say that : - one artist is now represented by a gallery - 30 artists have been exhibited - 14 have sold works - 42 have been put in touch with art market professionals - 2 solo shows are in preparation. January 2025: We want to make the work of the most highly-rated artists available directly on the app. In the form of a new swipe within the app, users will be led to discover the portfolios of the visual artists most desired by the Atfu community. No more anonymity, no more waiting for a match or a purchase proposal to be accepted, these artists will be at your reach.

There are 3 of us behind this project: Sirine Ammar, Clara Citron and Clémentine Dupont Tissot. All 3 of us graduated from art schools (ENSBA Paris, ENSAD Paris, ESAD St Etienne): two of us became visual artists, while the third worked on the art market for 5 years at Galerie Perrotin. We created Atfu because it was time to invent new ways of operating within the art market: by generalizing the exchange of works, by allowing artists to become collectors, by giving them access to a network of professionals, and now by allowing them to sell, we want to work towards a better future for artists. We are supported on a daily basis by Ophélie Baribaud, a talented developer who combines code and nail art to perfection. Maëlle Ribeiro, a recent graduate of ESAD Orléans, helps us on a LOT of different things. Speaking of the team, there are also a whole host of other people without whom Atfu would not have been possible: