Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice

We, Vortic XR Limited (referred to as we, our or us) are committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. This privacy notice provides information on how we collect and process your personal data when you use our Vortic Collect and the Vortic VR apps and our websites (including VorticXR.com and vortic.art) (together our Services) or platform (Platform), visit our websites, contact us or have a relationship with us.

This privacy notice was last updated on 23 February 2021 and may be updated over time. You are recommended to check it regularly for possible changes.

Our Services are intended only for individuals 18 years old or older, and no use by minors is authorised.

Who we are

We are an application and platform company based in London, UK. We have developed the Services to bring you the highest quality extended reality digital viewing of artwork from galleries around the world. We are the controller (ie we make decisions about how your personal information is used) when you register for our Services, use our Platform, contact us via our websites and when we have a direct relationship with you.

We have appointed a data privacy manager. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or our data protection practices, please contact our data privacy manager on privacy@vortic.art.

This privacy notice does not apply to the products or services offered by our gallery partners, artists, event or festival organisers, social media platforms or other websites which we link to and we are not responsible for the processing of your personal data by or through these organisations, websites or applications. You are recommended to consider the privacy notices (if any) available from these parties to understand how these organisations use your personal data.

The data we collect about you

We may collect, use, store and transfer personal data about you, if you:

use our Services (Service Users);
if you are or represent a gallery, an institution or if you are an event or festival organiser and/or an artist to provide content for our Platform (Platform Users);
access our website or communicate with us through it; or
if you otherwise connect or have a relationship with us.

Service Users

We collect, use and store the following information when you use our Services:

information that can identify you, such as your name and username when you register for the Services;
contact details, including your email and phone number; and
other information you might provide when using (or sending messages through) the Services.

We may also obtain and use:

technical data;
analytical and usage data; and
information on your personal preferences (including which galleries, exhibitions or artworks you might chose as your favourites);
information from social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram when you connect with us; and
any other personal information that you may provide to us or we may require in order to deal with your enquiry.

Registered Users

You may be set up and invited to join the Services by a gallery who will provide your name and contact details into our Platform and you will then receive a link and password to your email address inviting you to join the Services.

You can also download our apps or access our Services via our websites and you can register to receive extra content. You can request access to any gallery content, which a gallery needs to accept. You may need to provide your contact details to that gallery so you can register with them.

Registered users are then able to access exclusive content and exhibitions on our Services.

We work closely with our partners to ensure we both ensure that your data is safe and we can comply with our data protection obligations. If you have been invited by a gallery to join the Services in the first place, please get in touch with them to update your personal details. If you have any other queries, we will work together with our partners to respond to you.

You may use our Services without registering with us and in which case, the information we hold on you may be limited to technical and analytical information about how you use the Services. We will not know your name and contact details unless you register for the Services or connect to us in another way. See section on how we use technical information and analytics and our Cookie Policy below for more information.

Platform Users

When you use our Platform as, or on behalf of, a gallery, an institution, artist or an event or festival organiser, you will normally provide us with information about your identity and contact details, which may also include your address and social media accounts (if this might be personal data).

Where you provide information about third parties into the Platform (including gallery and/or event or festival organisers, collectors, other contacts that you invite to the Services and information on artists, which you include in the Platform), please ensure that any personal information on these individuals is accurate and up to date and is provided to us with their knowledge and consent (as required under our contract with you and/or by applicable law) and with their knowledge of how we will use their information.

Artists

Our gallery partners may provide information on you and we provide this information in the Platform, and via our Services, on their behalf. Unless you register with us and are a Service User or Platform User or if you have a direct relationship with us, the gallery and/or event or festival organiser is responsible for, and is able to manage your personal information, not us.

How we use your personal data

Service Users

We use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it which include the following:

to register you as a user of our Services (to set you up with a contract with us);
to provide you with our Services and access to artwork in extended reality (in public and private galleries, depending on whether you have registered with us) (in performance of our contract with you);
to manage your relationship with us, including to provide you with service updates, support or to ask you for feedback or a review on our Services (in performance of our contract with you and for our legitimate interests in ensuring you are able to optimise use of our Services and Platform);
to analyse and improve our Services, Platform and user relationships (either for performance of our contract or for our legitimate interests in reviewing how people use our Services and Platform and to improve our Services);
to enable you to communicate with us, galleries and/or event or festival organisers;
to recommend exhibitions, events and our similar products or services which may be of interest to you, when you opt-into receiving these notifications from us (with your consent, described below);
to enforce or defend any legal obligation or rights or to comply with any legal obligation.

Marketing

When you are a registered user of our Services, we may send you information about other exhibitions, events and our services where you have consented to this, depending on your preferences.

You may also receive notifications through the Services, if you agree to this when you obtain and first use the Services. You may be able to set some preferences in Settings on your device.

You may opt-out of these messages at any time via an unsubscribe option available in the email or by contacting privacy@vortic.art. Please note we will continue to send you service messages and support you if you ask for us to do so.

We value your views on our Services and Platform. You agree that we may freely use any feedback you provide for our internal business purposes such as improving our Services and their features and functions. We will not share your feedback and identify you in our marketing messages, however, unless you consent for us to do so.

How we use technical information and analytics

We (and our gallery partners) are able to see when you have accepted an invite to register for the Services and have joined a gallery, exhibition and/or an event or festival and we and our partners may be able to see which galleries, exhibitions, event or festival and artists you choose as your favourites.

We use data analytics to analyse and research how our Services are used (by registered users and guests) and to evaluate the use of our Services, which might include login and session times, which exhibitions, artists, artworks and galleries are viewed and how long for and other page views and navigation.

Please see our Cookie Policy below for more information.

Platform Users

Where you are our contact at or on behalf of a gallery, an institution and/or an event or festival organiser or are registered as a user of our Platform (as an admin user), we will collect and use your personal information when you enquire about our Platform and Services, when you sign up as a customer and download and use our Platform.

We use your personal information for the following reasons:

to respond to your enquiries, including to demonstrate our Platform;
to register you as a user of our Platform to enable you to access and use our software (to set you up with a contract with us);
to provide you with our Platform and to enable you to showcase artwork shown by galleries you represent in extended reality (in public and private exhibitions) (in performance of our contract with you);
to manage your relationship with us, including to provide you with service updates, support or asking you for feedback or a review on our Services and Platform (in performance of our contract with you and for our legitimate interests in ensuring you are able to optimise use of our Platform and Services);
to use data analytics to improve our Service and Platform and user relationships (either for performance of our contract or for our legitimate interests in reviewing how people use our Services and Platform and to improve our Services; please see our Cookie Policy below for more information);
to enforce or defend any legal obligation or rights or to comply with any legal obligation, including for payment and tax reasons.

Artists

We may use your personal information as a Service User where you register with us or as a Platform User, if you use our Platform to run your own exhibitions.

Keeping Platform Users and Artists Informed

Where you contact us or we have a direct relationship with you as our contact at, or on behalf of, a gallery or artist, we may also keep in touch with you about our developments, services and opportunities, which we think you may be interested in, unless you tell us that you prefer not to receive these. We believe that is what you might expect and that such use is within our and your legitimate interests. You may opt-out of receiving these messages at any time. Please note we will continue to provide you with service updates and support.

Our legitimate interests: Where we rely on our legitimate interests in using personal data, we consider our interests in conducting, managing and developing our business to enable us to give you the best service. We consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights and ensure that this use is fair, proportionate and in line with what you might expect and is unlikely to unfairly affect your rights and interests.

How we share your personal data

We may share your personal data with our gallery partners, institutions, and/or event or festival organisers to provide you with the best service when using the Services. Where possible, the information shared with our partners about usage of the Services will be on an anonymous basis.

You can find out more information about galleries, event or festival organisers in the Services or in the information relating to that gallery, institution, festival or event.

We may also give you an opportunity to sign up to receive more information on further exhibitions, events and festivals from our gallery partners and/or event or festival organisers. In this case, they will be responsible for how your personal information is used and you should contact them to find out more and/or to exercise your rights.

We use third parties to process some of your personal data on our behalf. When we allow them access to your data, we do not permit them to use it for their own purposes. We have in place with each processor, a contract that requires them only to process the data on our instructions and to take proper care in using it. They are not permitted to keep the data after our relationship with them has ended, unless required by law.

If you connect or communicate with us using social media, for example, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, your personal information will be shared with us and the social media platform. We may be able to communicate with you using that platform (for the reasons explained above) but we are not otherwise responsible for the ways in which these platforms might use your personal data. Please look at the privacy notices and preference centres available on these platforms to understand how your personal data is used and what options you might have in respect of it.

We use the following service providers:

Amazon Web Services – to provide hosting services;
Twilio SendGrid – to send emails;
Google Analytics – to provide data analytics on how the Services and Platform are used;
authorised contractors and third party companies involved in the development, build, operation and optimisation of our Services and Platform;
authorised third party companies involved in processing of information generated by use of the Services, for example, to manage our communications;
authorised service providers to provide maintenance and support, including customer support;
other service providers which may be used from time to time. We will update this page with details of any major service providers (or categories of service providers) who may have access to personal information.

International transfers

We may transfer, store and process your personal data to our offices, gallery partners and service providers in the United States or other countries outside of the UK or European Economic Area. If we do so, we ensure that your personal data is transferred in a way so that it is safeguarded and treated in accordance with comparable legal standards as we have in the UK.

Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other service providers who have a business need to know and they are contractually obliged to keep this information confidential.

We also endeavour to take reasonable steps to protect personal data from external threats, for example hacking or malicious software. Please be aware that there are always risks in sending personal information over public networks and that we cannot guarantee the security of data sent to us using these networks.

We have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator when it is appropriate for us to do so.

Data retention

We only retain information that identifies you for the duration of time when you are registered with or use the Service, for as long as we have a relationship with you, as is necessary for us to perform our obligations to you to enforce or defend any legal claims or as is required by applicable law.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

By law we have to keep basic information about our Service Users and Platform Users (including information about your identity, contact details and any transaction and payment details) for six years after you end your contract or relationship with us, which may include for tax purposes.

If we no longer need your personal information, it will be securely disposed of or anonymised.

Your data protection rights

You have rights to access the information that we hold on you, correct it and (in certain circumstances) to ask us to limit or stop processing or delete that information or to transfer that information to you or another provider.

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to correct information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

Your right to opt-out – California residents have the right, at any time, to direct us not to sell the your personal information to third parties. We are not in the business of selling consumer information to third parties, we only use and share your personal information as described in this notice. You may still send a “Do Not Sell My Info” request to us at any time by clicking the email link below to make your request, or mail your request to our address listed under “CONTACT DETAILS” below.

You are not normally required to pay a fee to exercise your rights. If you make a request, we will try to respond to you within fifteen days from receipt of your request. It may take longer if your request is complex or if you have made a number of requests. If this is the case, we will let you know and keep you updated.

Please contact us at privacy@vortic.art if you wish to make a request.

Further details and how to contact us

This privacy notice is drafted to comply with our obligations under the UK data protection legislation and/or the GDPR. If you are located elsewhere in the world, local laws may apply.

If you have any further questions, comments or if you have any complaints, please contact our data privacy manager as detailed below. If we are unable to answer your question or satisfy your request, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk).

CONTACT DETAILS

Our contact details are: Vortic XR Limited, LABS Camden – Triangle, Camden Lock Market, Chalk Farm Road, Camden Town, London, NW1 8AB

Data privacy manager: Nick Walter

Email address: privacy@vortic.art

Cookie policy: Our use of cookies and other tracking technologies

We use identifiers which are small text files which may be transferred to your device when you use our Services or Platform. On our website, these are often called cookies.

On our Services and Platform, we use cookies or other identifiers to:

recognise you so you do not need to log in again;
help us understand how the Services is used so we can share this information with our gallery partners and/or event or festival organisers and we can make them better;
help us understand how the Platform is used so we can manage our account with galleries, support you and improve and develop our Platform and Services; and
remember your favourites, preferences and settings.

The types of identifiers we may use include:

On our Services: to understand when Service Users have received invitations to join the Services and are able to access and register with us and so we can understand how you use the Services, which might include login and session times, which exhibitions, artists, artworks and galleries are viewed and how long for and to remember your favourites and other page views and navigation and if you might wish to inquire about artwork to receive more information.

On the Platform: to ensure Platform Users are able to register and log in correctly and to understand the use of the Platforms by galleries including the creation of artist, gallery and exhibition pages and the uploading and management of art works. We believe this is necessary for use of our Platform so we can provide you with our services and support you and provide you with feedback on how the Services and the Platform are used. This is also helpful for us and you to improve our Services and Platform.

On our websites, we may use the following cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our websites, for example when you navigate our websites and set up and register for our Platform.
Analytical or performance cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our websites when visitors are using them. This helps us to improve the way our websites work, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our websites. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our websites, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our websites and the advertising displayed on them more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

We use Google and other providers to help provide data analytics and you can see more information on how data is used by Google: www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

You can set your preferences for the use of these identifiers and cookies and/or via the available settings within Google (here: https://adssettings.google.com) and/or your browser.

“Do Not Track” Browser Settings Not Supported. Efforts to enable web browsers to recognize a “Do Not Track” setting by users have not been widely adopted or made mandatory by regulation. As a result there are no clear standards or guidelines for interpreting the setting and our systems do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals from browsers.