The most expensive

art work ever sold

Damien Hirst, For the Love of God,

sold for $100 million USD
 Contemporary art plays an increasingly
prominent role in our culture

 Art’s economic power is reflected in:

- Spectacular prices at international auctions
- Increasing number of museums
- Biennials and fairs becoming as necessary
to the tiniest country as a local airport
 What is Art?

 Theprocess or product of deliberately

arranging elements in a way that
appeals to the senses or emotions
A mirror of a society
 Whatis left as heritage for future
generations
Chapter I

Defining
“Contemporary Art”
 Loosely used to denote the art of the
present day and relatively recent past.
Usually avant-garde in nature
 Defined by blurred lines between
traditional genres and the appearance of
new multimedia techniques
 Perhaps “contemporary” just means "art
that has been and continues to be
created during our lifetimes". In other
words, contemporary to us
Chapter II

VS

Pablo Picasso,1937 Andy Warhol, 1962

 Modern Art: Art from the Impressionists
(1880) up until the 1960's or 70's
 Contemporary Art: Art from the 1960's or
70's up until now
 Contemporary Art Market
- 1950’s and 60’s: Leo Castelli and his wife
Illeana Sonnabend established crucial access for
American artists to European museums and
collectors
- 1965: First major auction of contemporary
American work at Parke-Bernet in New York
 Serves as a replacement for something else -
for the label “modern”. Modern art always
has been a mark of distinction and
difference, as its definition was protected by
gatekeepers in the West.
 “Contemporary” has ceased to be a matter
of simple chronology (recent or living art)… it
becomes a type of branding.
 “Contemporary” replaces the concept and
the term “modern” (a label from the past),
and creates a new space where global art
can happen.
Chapter III
 Most important phenomenon in recent
art: Globalization
 Biennials and landmark exhibitions
initiated the global turn in the art scene
when, in 1989, free trade removed Cold
War restrictions
 In
many countries, contemporary art has
become an economic project including huge
cultural districts with museums and art fairs

 Collectors’and corporate museums are a

result of the new clientele within the art
market, which, today, extends to 58 countries
 Inthe last 40 years, the market for
contemporary art has undergone a
fundamental overhaul: from a closed
circle of aficionados to an industrialized
market

 New market caters to growing number

of so-called High Net Worth Individuals
who pursue an increasingly globalized
life style
 1960s: Major auction houses expand,
triggers restructuring of art market

 Sincethen: costly art fairs – the

industry trade shows of the art world -
become the premier shopping malls for
contemporary art and are surpassing
auctions as major events for buyers
 These developments have major
consequences on how art is created,
marketed, perceived and consumed
 A work of art becomes a branded
commodity; the work’s value defined
increasingly in monetary terms
 Buying and selling art becomes a social
competition between wealthy collectors
 Part of the art world has turned into a
trading floor for speculation.
 Global art does not mean an inherent
aesthetic quality which may be identified as
global.

 One should not confuse the means and

ends…
 Ultimate goal of economy: generating
monetary profit
 Ultimate goal of art: deepening the
experience of our existence
Power List Top 10
 1. Hans Ulrich Obrist- Art critic, curator
2. Glenn D. Lowry- Director of MOMA
3. Sir Nicholas Serota- Director of Modern Tate
4. Daniel Birnbaum- Art critic, curator
5. Larry Gagosian- Gallerist
6. François Pinault- Collector
7. Eli Broad- Collector
8. Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda- Artists
9. Iwona Blazwick- Director of White Chapel Gallery
10. Bruce Nauman- Artist
Hans Ulrich Obrist
-Swiss curator

-Studied economics and politics,

then turned to contemporary art

- Organized extraordinary
exhibitions internationally, often
in spaces not previously used as
exhibition venues

- Curated exhibitions at the

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville
de Paris, at the Kunsthalle Wien,
the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg,
the Serpentine Gallery in
London, the PS1, etc.
Stats
 Top 100 by professions
Top 100 by nationality
Chapter IV

 Artists

 Museums

 Collectors

 Galleries

 Art critics
 Curators
 Increasinglybegin their careers with
Professional Training
 Average income of artists consists of 3
different sources of earnings: from their
art, from arts-related jobs (e.g., teaching),
and from nonarts employment
 Only
1/3 of artists can make their living
from their artwork
 Two distinct markets for visual art works :
-elite artists represented by prestige dealers
and galleries, whose work is reviewed by
recognized critics
- general market for other artists.
 Formany contemporary artists, the main
desire is greater control of the destiny of their
works
 Greater
Opportunities for Early
Commercial Success Alter Typical Career
Paths
- Persuaded by the successful use of
marketing tools, many contemporary
artists, especially the bestsellers, began
actively promoting their work
 Lesscommercially successful and less
well-known artists (many lacking
dealers) have also sought new ways of
getting their work before the public -
either through alternative spaces or
internet

 We are in a world of “new artistic

territories”
Museum of Louvre, Museum of Louvre Abu Dhabi
8 million visitors per year Will open in 2011
 Visualarts works can be displayed,
sold, and purchased in either the
commercial (for profit) or nonprofit
sectors.

 Museums dominate the

organizational profile of visual art 
Art museums have 5 traditional
missions:
-Collecting
-Preserving
-Studying
-Exhibiting
-Interpreting
….art objects
 Museums are the principal preservers of the
nation’s and the world’s visual arts héritage
 Museums play a major role in establishing the
legitimacy and artistic value of artists and their
work through the process of exhibiting and
collecting artwork
 From 1982-2002, total number of art museum
attendees has risen by almost half
 Museums’ operating expenditures
constitute almost half of their total annual
expenditures

 Giventhe importance of overhead,

development, and administration,
programming typically faces tough
competition for funding, creating tensions
in museums’ multifaceted mission
 Tension between art objects (the research
and preservation functions) and people
(the education and public involvement
functions)
 Museums’ wealth consists
overwhelmingly of their physical capital
 The 8 largest of these museums in the
USA control almost 50% of the revenues
of American non-profit visual
organizations
 New York’s advantage reflects its role
as the center of the
national/international arts market

 1/2of American museums were

created in the past 30 years
 Museums…
 Have adopted a variety of strategies to
increase attendance
 Face increasing financial pressures
 Turn to new types of directors and staff
 Same important changes in the board
of trustees
 Have increasing links with other
institutions and the corporate sector
 Increasingconcentration of revenues
and assets in the superstar museums
 Most common yardsticks to measure
museum performance: attendance,
membership, and number and
marketability of major shows
How to define and measure success?

The real measure ought to be the

quality of the museum experience
« A collection is the work of a person. It
is its limit and its greatness.
It has to awaken the curiosity, the
emotion of others. It is an artisitc
adventure with a moral dimension, a
disinterested commitment »

Monique ­Barbier- Mueller- Swiss

collector
Collectors

 The number of people who collect fine

art is miniscule compared with the
number of people who visit museums

 Though income and education are

closely related, of these two variables,
education is the most important
 Driving the increase in collectors:

 higher incomes of the world’s wealthy

 more collectors who are drawn to

collecting not just as connoisseurs but
also as investors

 moregeographically dispersed in past

25 years
 Key Characteristics of
Collectors
 Wealth

 International backgrounds.
 For mega collectors: appetite for signs of
distinction

 From a survey: 21% of the population

who own original art are older, highly
educated, have higher incomes than
the rest of population
 Important Collectors in the History
of Art
 not necessarily the very richest or most acquisitive
 Instead, those who yield great influence
 - a combination of connoisseurship and generosity
 Important collectors:
- Set standards for others by their example
- Encourage interest in the art they collect
- Share their colection with the public
- Impact on the market
 JEAN PAUL BARBIER-MUELLER (Tribal Art)
Nationality: Swiss
Age: 77
Source of wealth: Property
They opened the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneve.

 ERNST BEYELER (20th-century painting and sculpture)

Nationality: Swiss
Age: 86
Source of wealth: Art dealer
The Beyeler Foundation has nearly 400,000 visitors a year.
 ELI BROAD (Post-war and contemporary)
Nationality: American
Age: 75
Source of wealth: Property and insurance.
The Broad Art Foundation (California) has donated $50m to the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art for a new extension

 AGNES GUND (Post-war, mainly American)

Nationality: American
Age: 69
Source of wealth: Banking inheritance.
Based in New York, she served as president of the Museum of
Modern Art from 1991 to 2002 and led the fundraising drive for its
$858m extension, which opened in 2004
 NASSER DAVID KHALILI (Islamic and
Japanese Meiji)
Nationality: British
Age: 62
Source of wealth: Property.
Altogether, the Khalili collection comprises 25,000
pieces. He will set up a museum in London
 RONALD LAUDER (Early-20th-century
Austrian and German Art )
Nationality: American
Age: 64
Source of wealth: Cosmetics inheritance and media.
In 2006 he made headlines when he purchased
Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I for $135m, a
record price for a work of art
 PRINCE HANS-ADAM II (16th-to 19th-
century painting, sculpture and furniture)
Nationality: Liechtenstein
Age: 63.
In 2004 he opened the Liechtenstein Museum in
his baroque summer palace in Vienna, with
renovations costing 25m euro
EUGENIO LOPEZ ALONSO (Latin
American and international
contemporary)
Nationality: Mexican
Age: 40
Source of wealth: Food processing.
In 2001 he opened the Fundacion/Coleccion
Jumex on the outskirts of Mexico City.
 GEORGE ORTIZ (Antiquities)
Nationality: Swiss
Age: unknown
Source of wealth: Inheritance

 FRANCOIS PINAULT (Contemporary Art)

Nationality: French
Age: 71
He displays his collection, now comprising 2,500
works in Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in
Venice, which reopened in 2006. He owns also the
auction house Christie’s.
 VIKTOR PINCHUK (Contemporary Art)
Nationality: Ukrainian
Age: 47
Source of wealth: Steel.
In September 2006 the Victor Pinchuk Foundation opened the
Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev, which is one of the largest public
galleries for contemporary art in eastern Europe

 LEKHA & ANUPAM PODDAR (Indian Art)

Nationality: Indian
Age: unknown; 34
Source of wealth: Paper industry and hotels.
The Poddars are opening India's first non-commercial
contemporary art gallery in New Delhi
 DON & MERA RUBELL (Contemporary Art)
Nationality: American
Age: 66; unknown
Source of wealth: Inheritance and hotels.
In 1996 their Contemporary Arts Foundation opened a
public space in north Miami, to show a changing selection of
works in 27 rooms
CHARLES SAATCHI (Contemporary Art)
Nationality: British
Age: 65
Source of wealth: Advertising.
Probably Europe's most powerful collector of contemporary
art. Opened a museum in London
 EUGENE THAW (Drawings)
Nationality: American
Age: 81
Source of wealth: Art dealer.
Thaw himself collected drawings and oil sketches, many of which have
been offered to the Morgan Library in New York
 DAVID THOMSON (19th century English to
contemporary art)
Nationality: Canadian
Age: 51
Source of wealth: Media.
David Thomson was a very major donor to the Art Gallery of Ontario, to
which he gave 2,000 works in 2002 (including Rubens's Massacre of the
Innocents, for which he paid 50m [pounds sterling]), together with a $70m
donation
 GUY ULLENS (Chinese contemporary art)
Nationality: Belgian
Age: 73
Source of wealth: Food processing.
In 2007 Ullens opened a permanent space in a restored military
factory in Beijing, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art

 JAYNE WRIGHTSMAN (18th-century French art) Nationality:

American
Age: unknown.
Source of wealth: Oil
Based in New York, the couple made a series of donations to the
Metropolitan Museum in 1969-77, and this led to the creation of seven
galleries of French art in period rooms
 REINHOLD WURTH (20th-century art )
Nationality: German
Age: 73
Source of wealth: Hardware business
Wurth runs an art museum at Kunzelsau
A case study

 Video of Margulies Collection

 Top20 collectors come from 13 different
countries

9 out of the 20 biggest collections are

contemporary art collections

 Mosthave set up and funded their own

public galleries
 Acquiring objects that have some relation to each
other
 Puttingthose objects into the kind of order that
reflects the collector’s response to them.
 Each true collection achieves a personality beyond
and apart from the sum of the objects. This
personality is definable and has a value in itself. It is
lost if the collection is dispersed or mutilated.
 Crucial Traits for Intelligent Collecting

 Instinct

 Taste

 Scholarship - Studying books, visiting other

collections, consulting experts, learning about
condition and conservation, and, generally,
developing experience and expertise
 Real art collectors often feel the ability to apply
their talents to any field of art.
 Why Do Collectors Collect?

 Toexperience the object more intimately and

more completely than even the most
thoroughly attentive viewing at an exhibition.
A mania to add, to refine, to put in order a
collection of works of art.
 Theoverwhelming majority of those who call
themselves collectors collect contemporary art
 Be guided by curiosity
 Learn how to look at an artwork
 Train your eyes: Art is about looking, looking and
looking
 Research the history of art
 Visit and look at masterpieces of our civilization
 Take the time to recognize their position
 Understand the work from intellectual, cultural
and emotional points of view
 Accept that you need 10 years to be more independant
in your decisions
 Follow your instinct
 Mistakes are inevitable but you grow through them
 Go through a year of catalogues of auction houses
 Be part of a social network of artists, curators, gallerists
and other collectors but distinguish between the purely
“social” aspect and the opportunity to discuss art
 Choose your dealers very carefully
Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson, 1984
Aspects to Consider

 Description of the work?

 What medium is used?
 What Warhol says about it?
 What are the main themes of
Warhol?
 Why is Warhol considered so
important?
 What about pop art?
 What is Warhol’s market?
 A Chinese contemporary art collection created in
2005
 A « University museum » approach aimed toward the
production of knowledge
 Represents 90 of the leading Chinese avant-garde
artists reflecting different regional art scenes
 An entity limited to 150 pieces opened to constant
redefinition and regeneration
 To build a collection in which established
artists and emerging artists from all
regions are represented
 To collect, educate, and entertain
 To create a strong relationship with major
players of the Chinese art scene
 To increase and deepen participation for a
certain type of Chinese contemporary art
 To establish a strong and personal
collection
 To attract an audience, particularly
the 18-34 generation by mixing
entertainment and education
 To reach curators, universities, art
critics, museums and opinion leaders in
China and internationally
 To develop an educational program
 Strong personal commitment and
presence in China
 Acquisition of content
 Funding of innovative websites
 Dsl website and its different display
tools
 Public relations & Communications and
E-marketing
Gu Dexin, 2005.03.05, installation, pole 26 meters, canvas 350 x 250 cm, base 150 cm, 2005
YANG Jiechang, I still remember, Ink on paper, 6 panels, each 300 x 173 cm, 1998-2006
Lin Yilin, Standard Series of Ideal Residences, installation: brick, iron, wood, 1991
Zhang Huan, Peace1, installation, 2001, H335 cm x L365 xPr 243 cm
Jia Aili, Untitled, 2007-2008, oil on canves, 296 x 400 cm
 Statistics
- In 2008, 300 million Chinese online users
- 68% are younger then 29 years old
- 80 million blogs in China, 10 million in
Japan
- 8 million visitors in the Louvre, 11 million
on its website
 Dsl collection website
 Popular online social networks like Facebook,
Xiaonei
 Ebook
 Blog , Twitter
 Virtual tools
- Virtual museum
- Zoomorama gallery
- Dsl Cyber MOCA on Second Life
 E-Marketing and Communication
 Exhibition of the works in museums
Virtual museum

DSL Cyber Moca

Zoomorama gallery
E-book

Text book, volume I

Libreria Borges

Visual productions
Dsl Voice Reader
Twitter Facebook
Communication

Newsletter Magazines
Events

Talks

ShContemporary Art Fair 2008

Conclusion