Digital art galleries & virtual exhibitions – How to develop your own Art Space app

Do you need a customized or even bespoke solution for the digital presentation and visualization of your artwork in living spaces ? Then you might have no choice but to develop your own app. While there are a number of apps and online tools available for the virtual presentation of artwork, exhibitions, and portfolios, these solutions each have their limitations. Furthermore, they typically involve monthly usage fees.

What art space apps does the market offer?

Let's first take a look at the range of conventional apps and popular providers for virtualizing and visualizing your own art online. We've selected two options that exemplify the functionality of existing solutions quite well.

Art Space: Artwork Preview App by 4Axis Technologies

Artist Space is the latest app developed by the same people who Drawing Desk . Art Space lets you create quite decent mock-ups of commercial art in minutes. It's as simple as uploading your artwork, choosing from hundreds of interiors that can be customized, and easily sharing your creations with others.

Art Space offers artists a powerful tool for creating professional mockups that help them sell or showcase their work. The app is available for download in the Apple Store and is designed for artists who want to exhibit their work digitally, present their portfolio, stand out on social media, and attract collectors.

Feature List:

• Interiors of more than two hundred residential, gallery, commercial and studio spaces
• The ability to input personalized interiors
• Add a watermark
• Manually change the dimensions of the artwork or achieve realistic artwork proportions in all interior spaces
• Cutting 
• Adjust exposure, contrast, warmth, saturation, shadows, and more for the interior and artwork
• Choose from several frame colors, materials, and sizes
• Over 10 background designs to choose from
• Grid layouts for arranging multiple artworks
• Customizable wall and floor colors and textures
• JPG, PNG or PSD files can be exported.
• Option to save to the cloud

What about the price?

Unlimited access to all premium features and daily content updates for the duration of the subscription is available with a weekly subscription for $6.99 per week. An annual subscription costs $69.99 per year.

Alternative apps for mockup presentations:

• Art Mockup: Smartist Creator
• Artmywall – Show Art on Walls
• WallPictureApp: Show Anything
• ArtStage: Display Your Art

Virtual reality art exhibitions with artsteps

Artsteps aimed at artists and organizations planning exhibitions, whether virtual or physical, but with limited budgets. A 3D editor their own exhibition space they can choose from a pre-designed template.

In this area, you can design your exhibition, and your visitors can then move freely within it. The exhibition can include not only two-dimensional media (such as photographs and paintings) but also three-dimensional media (such as sculptures and installations) as well as films. In addition to being embedded in websites, the virtual exhibitions also be shared via links. Therefore, creating your exhibition and hosting virtual visits requires only a computer or smartphone with an internet connection.

A "Private Space" is one of the additional services that Artsteps offers as an optional extra to its free basic service. These services can cost between a few hundred and a few thousand euros per month, depending on whether they are used for commercial or academic purposes and how many user accounts are required. Unlike the free version, the appearance can be customized with your own logo, which can be displayed on the login screen, individual backgrounds, and much more.

Furthermore, the computer-generated URL is replaced by an independent artsteps domain, enabling access to restricted exhibitions.

Alternatives to artsteps:

• Art Matrix
• Iconospace
• cura3D
• Curat10n
• VR ALL ART

Are the existing solutions insufficient for your needs? Then learn with us how to develop your own art space as an app or find a competent and affordable service provider for it.

Develop your own art space app

Before you begin, you should first formulate a requirements list for your own app. What features did you miss in the solutions mentioned above? What customization and adaptation options do you need? Who is your target audience? etc.

Since we ourselves do not have the necessary programming skills to provide a step-by-step guide to developing such an app, we would like to recommend Google Developers Codelab: Create an Art Space App

By applying what you learn in this Codelab, you will create your own digital art environment—an application that displays a variety of artworks according to your own vision. Along with previous Codelabs, which provided step-by-step instructions, you will receive all the necessary guidelines and suggestions for what you need to develop the app.

Creating an application from scratch is a complex task. You should have sufficient experience in app development. If you are unsure how to implement certain components of the application, you can always refer back to previous Codelabs.

By building this application yourself and finding solutions to the challenges you encounter along the way, you'll learn faster and be able to implement unique concepts. Another advantage is that the application can be completely modified and customized (theming for customizing the design will be explained in a later Codelab).

Requirements (Warning: things are about to get a little geeky):

• Know-how to create and run a project in Android Studio
• Experience with Kotlin syntax, including Boolean expressions and when expressions.
• Ability to apply elementary Jetpack Compose concepts, e.g., the use of states with MutableState objects.
• Experience with composable features, including combinable text, images, and buttons.

Budget-friendly app development: How to create high-quality mobile applications with limited resources

A third option is to have an app programmed .

Developing a mobile app doesn't have to cost a fortune. Many professional artists, galleries, and art institutions shy away from digital projects because they fear high development costs. However, budget-oriented app development not only possible, but with the right approach, it can produce solutions that are just as powerful and user-friendly as large-scale projects.

The key lies in strategic planning, targeted technology selection, and clear prioritization. Those who collaborate with an experienced app agency in Berlin can avoid costly detours from the outset and have an app developed that focuses on the essentials.

Key principles for cost-effective app development

Cost-conscious implementation begins as early as the concept phase. The principle here is: less is often more – especially when it comes to features. Eliminating unnecessary extras not only reduces development time but also future maintenance costs. The following bullet points provide an overview of the key principles:

• MVP approach (Minimum Viable Product). Development of only the most important core functions for market entry.
• Open-source technologies. Using free frameworks and libraries reduces licensing costs.
• Cross-platform development. One code for multiple platforms like iOS and Android saves resources.
• Agile project management. An iterative approach prevents errors and saves money in the long run.
• External app agencies with experience. Access to scalable teams, optimized processes, and best practices.

These measures help to use resources effectively. The MVP approach is particularly popular because it enables rapid market testing and avoids unnecessary features before user needs become clear.

Cost comparison of different development methods

The table below shows typical methods for app development and their impact on the budget:

The table illustrates that not every method is suitable for every project. Those who need high performance must invest in native development. For budget projects (for individual artists, cooperatives, or smaller initiatives), however, cross-platform or even no-code approaches are recommended. Professional consultation with an app agency (e.g., in the app hub of Berlin) can help choose the right path.

Avoid hidden cost traps: What to consider in budget projects

Even with budget-friendly app development, there are pitfalls. A common mistake is underestimating maintenance costs. Cheap code isn't automatically easy to maintain. Therefore, it's essential to focus on clean, well-documented code from the outset – even if it costs more initially. Costs for app store certifications, Privacy requirements (e.g., GDPR), regular updates, and in-app support are also frequently overlooked.

Choosing affordable tools should therefore not come at the expense of quality or scalability. This is especially true for financially strong art galleries, museums, or large cultural institutions where quality must meet the highest standards.

Smart planning beats a big budget

Developing a mobile application on a small budget is not only possible, but – if implemented correctly – can even create a competitive advantage. Instead of investing in bloated features, the focus is on user-friendliness, scalability, and a solid technical foundation.

Especially for artists with limited budgets, art start-ups, and small galleries, it's worthwhile to focus early on agile methods, modern frameworks, and the expertise of specialized partners like an app agency in Berlin . This leads to solutions that not only stay within budget but also resonate with the target audience.

Joachim Rodriguez y Romero

Owner and Managing Director of Kunstplaza . Publicist, editor, and passionate blogger in the fields of art, design, and creativity since 2011. Graduated with a degree in web design from university (2008). Further developed creative techniques through courses in freehand drawing, expressive painting, and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market gained through years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with key players and institutions in the arts and culture sector.

www.kunstplaza.de