How COVID-19 has changed the art market — Arting in the Age of COVID
Many things have changed since the art world found itself mingling and partying during last year’s Art Basel. Just as every other industry, the art market has not been exempt from the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has changed the dynamics of how the art market interacts, and everyone from dealers to museums have been looking for new ways to engage and keep business as usual.
The way of living and investing has drastically changed, and what used to be familiar is now more than distant. In the art world, per se, face-to-face interactions have always been essential to art market transactions, and with COVID restrictions and the quarantine culture, the absence of physical co-presence with artworks and art world actors lead to a dramatic decrease of sales at the beginning of 2020.
Panic mode went off, and as staff was being shortened, the art world experienced a quick conversion of all major fairs into online expos and the viewing room boom, making sales and revenue switch completely to online platforms. Even though the contemporary art world resisted this transition for a while, what at first appeared to be a temporary solution, has become the new normal. Online sales have accelerated and become the primary source of income, and social media has positioned itself as the new best platform to expose and sell. Now anyone who is someone is on social media, and worldwide opportunities are just one tap away. Art transactions that used to be elaborated and a game of ego, are fading in front of artists leveling up their marketing strategies and influencer skills.
Though the future is unclear, the post COVID art market is open to debate with many contradictory theories. On the right hand, some argue that galleries and fairs will be obsolete 50 years from now, making artists the new ‘gate keepers’ of the art world. Another less popular opinion is that the months of quarantine and self isolation and lack of spending will push the collectors towards the radical spending behaviour patterns in the nearest future.
Moreover, what it’s for sure is that the experience with adopting Online Viewing rooms in art fairs has pushed many dealers to display prices in a transparent manner, which is a further step to adopting a democratic approach to sales in the long run. The art world is slowly evolving into becoming accessible and humanity will experience a sense of culturalization in the next couple of years. With the arrival of blockchain technology and a more straightforward approach to fine art, technology will have a pivotal role in determining how the art market will be available to everyone and not only high net-worth individuals. Just wait and see.
Fairgoers take pictures of Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, for sale from Perrotin at Art Basel Miami Beach. Photo by Sarah Cascone.