Art fair digital catalogue: PDF and video in one afternoon.
Pre-fair collectors open a flat PDF and bounce. Photoreal stills for the catalogue plus cinematic hangs for email and WhatsApp: produced from your files, timed for Basel / Frieze / TEFAF weeks. No booth crew.
The fair PDF is still a grid of catalogue JPEGs
Your list is locked. The printed booklet is at the printer. Collectors on the other side of the world get a PDF that looks like last year’s inventory export. They cannot feel the work. They skip the booth.
PDF catalogues flatten 80cm+ work into thumbnails
Remote VIPs decide before they book a fair appointment
Videographer lead times miss the two-week fair crunch
Fair weeks are a content deadline, not a content strategy
Basel, Frieze, TEFAF, and the regional fairs compress the same job: a locked list, a PDF, a VIP preview, and a week of follow-up. Marketing teams already have the checklist. They do not have a crew that can hang forty works in rooms before freight leaves.
Give away the method: batch stills first, then 10-second Reels and 12.5-second cinematic cuts for the works you will actually pitch. Sell the implementation at volume: Atelier or Gallery for that month, custom if the list never drops below 50.
Keep your CRM, fair app, and printed booklet. MOCKLIO is the visual factory so the digital catalogue does not look like a JPEG dump.
Updated September 2026 · Ship this page 2–3 weeks before major fairs
“You upload the artwork, choose the scene, and Mockl.io does the heavy lifting.”
“MOCKLIO is not just a handy mock-up tool. It is a proper presentation tool for artists and galleries who want their work to look as good online as it deserves to look.”
I have spent a lot of time looking for a genuinely high-quality way to create artwork mock-ups and video presentations for our catalogue, and MOCKLIO is easily the best I have found.
At Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery, we work with a large catalogue of original artworks, and presentation matters enormously. Buyers need to be able to imagine how a piece will look in a real home or interior space. Static product photos are important, but they only go so far. MOCKLIO takes that next step and makes the artwork feel alive, polished, professional and genuinely desirable.
What impressed me most is the quality. The video mock-ups are at a level above anything else I have come across. They do not look cheap, awkward or template-driven. They look very cool, like the kind of thing you would normally need a photographer, videographer, editor, interior stylist or 3D artist to create. With MOCKLIO, you can get that type of result without needing any of those skills.
That is the real magic of it. No technical knowledge. No photography set-up. No videography. No editing software. No painful learning curve. You upload the artwork, choose the scene, and MOCKLIO does the heavy lifting.
For an art gallery like us, that is a serious advantage. We are planning to use MOCKLIO to create many video mock-ups across our catalogue because it gives us a much better way to show artworks online, on social media, and in marketing campaigns. It helps bridge the gap between seeing a flat image on a screen and imagining the artwork as a real piece in a real space.
I have looked extensively for something that does this properly, and honestly, I have not found anything that comes close. MOCKLIO is not just a handy mock-up tool. It is a proper presentation tool for artists and galleries who want their work to look as good online as it deserves to look.
Highly recommended.
Fair week: hire a videographer vs MOCKLIO
The decoy is booking a crew for the booth list. The close is a catalogue trial you can finish before freight.
| Criteria | Hire a videographer | MOCKLIO Gallery |
|---|---|---|
| 40-work fair list | $3,000–$8,000+ and a calendar fight | $299/mo · 50 videos included |
| PDF stills for every work | Often excluded or day-rate stills | Unlimited photoreal stills |
| Lead time before the fair | 1–3 weeks typical, often slips | Afternoon stills; cinematic same-day |
| Booth required? | Yes, or a studio rebuild | No: files only |
| VIP email / WhatsApp video | Separate edit invoice | 10s + 12.5s from the same hang |
| Week-after follow-up | Crew is gone | Credits remain that month |
Size the plan to the booth list, not a freelance invoice.
Unlimited stills for the PDF. Video credits for the works you will actually walk collectors to.
+ unlimited image mockups
- 25 cinematic videos / month
- Unlimited stills for the full fair PDF
- 10s Reel + 12.5s cinematic per hang
- One afternoon for a typical list
+ unlimited image mockups
- 50 cinematic videos / month (~$5.48 each yearly)
- Everything in Atelier
- Priority delivery on cinematic video
- Hero list + leftover credits after the fair
Extra videos if a fair month spikes. Need more volume? Contact us at contact@mockl.io. Yearly = one month free.
Fair catalogue in one afternoon (then schedule)
Lock the list, batch stills
Upload every work on the fair PDF. Generate photoreal room stills the same day. Drop them into InDesign, the viewing-room CMS, or the collector email.
Spend video on the pitch list
Pick 15–25 heroes for VIP preview, advisor WhatsApp, and pre-fair Reels. Each hang yields 10s and 12.5s. Manual scene pick stays primary.
Pack PDF + motion from Loop Hub
Share Packs for whoever is posting. PDF stays stills. Email and WhatsApp carry the cinematic cut. Fair week is scheduling, not production.
No fair on the calendar
- ✓You only need ongoing Instagram cadence (see bulk reels)
- ✓The next deadline is a gallery opening, not a booth
- ✓Your list is under ~10 works and already filmed
The booth list is locked
- ✓Fair in 14–21 days and the PDF still looks like a JPEG dump
- ✓VIPs need room video before they book a viewing
- ✓You will not get a videographer through security and lighting in time
- ✓You want PDF stills and motion from the same hang
Art fair digital catalogue facts
- Fair catalogue = PDF stills + motion for VIP / WhatsApp , not the printed booklet alone.
- Produce 2–3 weeks out. Opening week is too late for a crew.
- Unlimited stills for every work on the list; 15–25 cinematic heroes typical.
- Atelier 25 / Gallery 50. Catalogue trial , not Pro $19.
- Booth photography is documentation. Digital hangs sell the appointment.
Finish this fair’s digital catalogue before freight.
Catalogue trial · Atelier $179 · Gallery $299
An art fair digital catalogue is stills + video for the booth list: photoreal room mockups for the PDF / viewing room, and cinematic hangs for pre-fair email, advisor WhatsApp, and social. MOCKLIO produces both from each artwork file. Atelier ($179, 25 videos) or Gallery ($299, 50). Cover the PDF with unlimited stills; spend video on heroes. Ship 2–3 weeks before the fair.
Related fair and catalogue pages
Gallery Exhibition Content
Three-week opening timeline: different deadline.
/gallery-exhibition-content
Bulk Art Reels for Galleries
Ongoing catalogue cadence, not a fair sprint.
/bulk-art-reels-for-galleries
Art Gallery Marketing Software
Category hub.
/art-gallery-marketing-software
MOCKLIO for Galleries
Volume plans and roster workflow.
/mocklio-for-galleries
Artlandish case study
Large original catalogue: presentation at volume.
/customers/artlandish-aboriginal-art-gallery
Art Gallery Content Ops
The factory around the pack.
/art-gallery-content-ops
FAQ
Art fair digital catalogue FAQ
An art fair digital catalogue is the pre-fair pack collectors actually open: a PDF or viewing-room page of available works plus room-context stills and short cinematic hangs. It is not the printed booklet alone. MOCKLIO produces the visual layer from your files so the PDF and the video preview share the same hangs: no booth shoot required.
Two to three weeks before the fair: batch stills for every work on the list, then cinematic video for 15–25 heroes (VIP preview, newsletter, advisor WhatsApp). Opening week is too late for a videographer. Volume plans deliver stills immediately and cinematic video the same day.
Keep booth photography for press and documentation. Remote collectors deciding whether to book a viewing need room scale and atmosphere before they fly. Digital catalogue hangs cover that job. Install footage does not replace it.
PDFs stay stills. Pair the PDF with a viewing-room page, email, or WhatsApp that carries the 10-second Reel or 12.5-second cinematic cut of the same hang. One MOCKLIO job yields both the PDF still and the motion file.
A 40-work fair list usually needs 15–25 cinematic hangs, not one video per work. Unlimited stills cover the PDF. Atelier (25 videos) fits a boutique booth; Gallery (50) covers a heavy list plus leftover credits for the week after.
Exhibition content is a three-week opening timeline for a show in your space. An art fair digital catalogue is a seasonal, list-driven pack for a booth: PDF, VIP preview, and remote follow-up on a compressed calendar. Same factory, different deadline.
The fair list is locked. The JPEG dump is optional.
Catalogue trial on Atelier or Gallery. Photoreal stills for the PDF, cinematic hangs for VIP email. Timed for fair weeks.
Start catalogue trial