Open Access: Fokum eEvening Lecture Winter Term 2020/2021

Prof. Dr. Natasha Degen, New York, talks about:

Between Crisis and Contingency: The Art Market Today and Its Post-Pandemic Future

Date: available from 07/12/2020
Link: KuK TU Berlin YouTube

Left: The website of the University of Michigan Museum of Art announces the museum’s closure; screenshot from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Right: The auctioneer Oliver Barker takes virtual bids from international colleagues at a Sotheby’s sale in June 2020; courtesy Julian Cassady for Sotheby’s.

++Due to the measures to contain COVID-19, all events of the Forum Kunst und Markt / Centre for Art Market Studies take place online in the winter term 2020/2021.++

++Title, abstract and CV are always written in the respective language of presentation.++

Abstract: It seems probable that 2020 will be remembered as a year of historic proportions, a moment of rupture but also, quite possibly, an inflection point in politics, economics, and the life of institutions. For the art market, too, the effects have been profound. This lecture takes stock of the moment from the U.S. perspective, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of the recent presidential election, and analyzes how present circumstances might exacerbate preexisting trends in the art market. It examines how art businesses are evolving in response to the pandemic and considers whether these changes are likely to be permanent. Raising questions about the sustainability of institutions, and even institutional models, the talk ultimately addresses the future outlook for the art market and the organizations that support it in 2021 and beyond.

Natasha Degen is Professor and Chair of Art Market Studies at FIT-State University of New York. She is a recognized writer and critic, having contributed to publications including The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Artforum, and frieze, and serves as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal for Art Market Studies. She edited The Market (MIT Press, 2013), an interdisciplinary anthology tracing the art market’s interaction with contemporary practice, and is currently working on a book that explores the intersection of the art and fashion industries. She earned an AB from Princeton University and a MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she studied as a Gates Scholar.

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