ART, BUSINESS AND MONEY: The impact of the Internet and new media

The BSCC's second "Art, Business and Money" symposium in Basel attracted an outstanding panel of experts: David Linley, Chairman of Christie’s UK; Grayson Perry, artist and winner of the Turner Prize; Sean Rainbird, Director of the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. The event was moderated by contemporary art historian, Victoria Preston.

During the debate, the art world celebrities discussed the complex, sensitive yet vital bond between Art, Business and Money. Overall, the panel approached the subject of new media in a more welcoming manner than many might have anticipated. The internet and new media have been embraced by the art world as a tool to promote, sell, and inform the public about art. Rather than discussing new media as an art form itself (even though artist Grayson Perry makes some use of digital technology and enjoys the juxtaposition of modern and classical techniques), the panellists discussed new media primarily as communication and information tools.   Sean Rainbird stated, “People trust the internet more and new media helps to make art more accessible. People have access to more information, faster.”

Sean Rainbird further described the use of new media and the internet as useful tools for making collections better known. He pointed out that “the art market is one of the most unregulated markets in the world. This only emphasises the importance of personal judgement.” Social tools are being used to find content relevant to the interest of the viewer, something he described as the “revolution of an interconnected network”. There has been a shift in control whereby information and resources are available to a much wider audience. In explaining the evolving role of curators such as himself, he stated, “if we are not making collections accessible, we are not doing our job.” This participatory culture has developed with the rise in popularity of new media and social networking.

In 2009, approximately 30% of all bids at Christie’s were made online (a 40% increase on 2008). Chairman, David Linley, believes that no matter how rapid the growth in live internet bidding, there will always be the excitement of seeing the object in real life. With the launch of the Christie’s iphone application in 2009, and 33,000 downloads to date, Christie’s are embracing new media as the future of the art market. He added, “our online auctioneering service maintains our competitive edge in certain markets.” The feeling of reticence that was once evident at Christie’s towards using the internet for live auctioning has dissipated with the development and sophistication of new technology. Online bidding allows a worldwide audience to bid on items they may otherwise not have the opportunity to view in person. The Christie’s live auction is not comparable to transactions conducted on Ebay as David Linley pointed out: “art works are vetted, looked at and given the seal of approval before being put up for auction online”.

Turner prize winner, Grayson Perry, explained how he makes creative use of new media and digital technology. He sees the prime benefit of new media in conveying the idea of a work of art but feels that this is no substitute for the experience of being confronted with art in reality. He subscribes to the view  that the internet offers numerous possibilities in terms of increasing communication about art but also points to the very real danger of art being commoditised by such media. In particular, Mr. Perry deplored the ubiquity of photographed art and its (frequent) poor quality. He reinforced this view by stating: “photographed art is like water. It spews out everywhere - and most of it is sewage”.
  
Moderator Victoria Preston traced the historical development of art and new media and questioned whether, given what is possible with today’s technology, art can retain its aura as a unique aesthetic form.

Despite some concerns about its use and inherent aesthetic limitations, the panellists concluded that,   rather than being something to fear, the internet has helped to democratise and popularise the art world.

The half-day event was organised by the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce and the Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe (COBCOE).

The Art, Business and Money series will continue next year with the 3rd annual BSCC / COBCOE Art Basel seminar taking place on June 15th, 2011 at the Ramada Plaza hotel. Save the date in your diaries!

View photographs of the event