CentralNic partners with UKCI on .art domain

Domain name sales platform business CentralNic announced on Friday that it has contracted with UK Creative Ideas - the rightsholder for the new top-level domain .art - to be its exclusive registry service provider.

The AIM-traded firm said .art will be introduced in a staged launch over the next 12 months, providing the “art community and the $68bn art market” with its own exclusive designation on the internet.

It said UKCI is a new venture created to bring technologies, including .art domains names, to the global art world.

“The top-level domain industry has not previously encountered a venture capitalist of the calibre of Ulvi Kasimov, whose exciting vision for the a new online home for the art world comes backed with the resources and expertise to execute at a global scale,” said CentralNic CEO Ben Crawford.

“We are delighted that UKCI have selected CentralNic as their exclusive registry service provider.”

Crawford said .art has the potential to be “one of the great success stories” in the restructuring of the internet, and CentralNic is proud to be providing the technical platform to support it.

“As well as being the world's leading distributor of new TLD domain names by volume, CentralNic's new TLD registry support team have proven that they have the expertise and flexibility to meet .ART's requirements,” commented UKCI chairman Ulvi Kasimov.