Pace Gallery’s new space in Palm Beach, Florida

As part on an ongoing monthly column for LUX, artnet’s Vice President Sophie Neuendorf discusses the cultural shifts caused by the pandemic and forecasts the future shape of the art industry

Sophie Neuendorf

Prior to the pandemic, city life was often synonymous with a thriving arts and culture scene. Most of the world’s major cities offered a plethora of  national and international galleries and museums to tempt tourists and locals alike, alongside the global rota of art fairs and biennials. It was an exciting ecosystem that was supported by constant stream of international art lovers and collectors.

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However, as James Tarmy recently wrote in Bloomberg, the pandemic has radically changed the status quo and has been vastly more painful to museums and nonprofit art organisations than to commercial galleries. The main reason for the disparity, he explained, is that “buying art is mostly a private activity; seeing art is much more communal.” His article reveals that sales have remained surprisingly robust at multiple levels of the market, from modestly sized dealers like James Fuentes and François Ghebaly to blue-chip galleries like David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth. The rapid pivot to online sales are largely responsible last year’s robust sales, with $10.1 Billion spent on fine art sales in 2020 (Source: artnet Price Database). Private sales have also proved resilient— perhaps not surprising, given that the collective wealth of America’s 651 billionaires, for example, has increased by $1 trillion since the start of the pandemic. Strong interest from millennials, who squirrelled away vast amounts of disposable income amidst the lockdown, and robust activity from Asia are further fuelling demand.

When it comes to projecting the art industry’s timeline for full re-emergence from lockdown, it would be wise to note not only the rate of vaccination as a benchmark, but also the psychological impact and cultural shift initiated by the pandemic. For example, countryside living is having a renaissance, fuelled by remote working. While previous generations were drawn to cities for work and leisure alike, the restrictions of our global lockdown have bought about a counter-reaction to city life. A shift to working from home, zoom calls, and decreased business travel support this change. But what does this cultural shift mean for the art industry? How will galleries, museums, and institutions respond to collectors’ migration away from the world’s major cities?

Hauser and Wirth Somerset

As restrictions in movement and social distancing measures continue, more and more galleries, artist residencies, and institutions are finding homes in coastal towns and the countryside, opening up spacious, Covid-19 friendly spaces to attract collectors in a safe space.

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Last summer, already saw an increase in pop up gallery spaces in popular destinations such as the Hamptons, Aspen, St Moritz, and Mallorca. Hauser & Wirth was ahead of the trend with its opening of H&W Somerset and this summer will see the launch of a new space in Menorca, and  in Monaco. Similarly, Pace Gallery is expanding within Seoul, as Asia is recovering more rapidly from the pandemic in comparison to European countries. The gallery is also catering to its Western clients who are migrating to coastal towns, by opening up spaces in East Hampton and Palm Beach.

As more and more galleries are responding to the “new normal,” a hybrid model will most likely develop. Taking advantage of the increased collector confidence in online transactions, galleries as well as auction houses will be able to connect with their clients online, while also opening up Covid-friendly spaces in more rural locations.

Hauser and Wirth Menorca is scheduled to open in July 2021

The drama of quarantine also opened up previously unlikely collaborations between fairs, dealers, auction houses, and even luxury brands. For example, Bulgari sponsored Sotheby’s Old Master Week in January, outfitting the auctioneer and staff in the brand’s jewels. I suspect we’ll be seeing many more partnerships of this kind as well as auction-art-fair hybrids like Christie’s recent project with the 1:54 contemporary African art fair or Johann König’s ‘Messe’ in St Agnes.

The incredible innovations rapidly developed during the pandemic—from live-streamed sales to a rolling battery of online offerings—are here to stay. Industry insiders and experts are predicting a surge of post-lockdown activity, but physical openings and exhibitions will continue to be complemented by online sales. The art industry has definitely changed, but I’m hopeful for what comes next.

Follow Sophie Neuendorf on Instagram: @sophieneuendorf

Katrina Aleksa Ryemill is a co-founder of Association of Women In The Arts

Non-profit organisation Association of Women In The Arts was founded with the ambition of providing a networking and mentorship platform for women working in the arts in the UK. Since the pandemic, their membership has expanded globally with a new online programme. As part of our ongoing philanthropy series, Samantha Welsh speaks to the organisation’s co-founder Katrina Aleksa Ryemill about the importance of a professional support network, adapting to a digital world and expanding globally

LUX: Tell us about the Association of Women In The Arts, and why is it already such a powerful organisation?
Katrina Aleksa: Since our beginning in February 2016, AWITA’s main focus has been to bring the inspirational women working within the art world together, and this remains our core strength to this day. AWITA’s membership includes gallerists, curators, art advisers and academics as well as auction houses, museum, public sector and art fair professionals.

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Quite simply our members are our key strength and what makes us the powerful organisation that we have become. For so long there was no place where women, who are underrepresented in top positions in the art industry (as they are in many others), could unite, network and help each other in a safe and positive environment. AWITA provides just that, and every time another fantastically talented woman joins our network we become stronger, better represented and more powerful. Leaders across the art world can share and collaborate in a safe way. We adapt and pivot very quickly to changing times the current crisis is just one example of it. Quite simply, we are stronger together.

AWITA Great Women Artists: why women? panel discussion at Sotheby’s London in partnership with Phaidon. From left to right: Katrina Aleksa Ryemill, Harriet Loffler, Marina Ruiz Colomer, Wells Fray-Smith, Mary Findlay, Rebecca Morril, Kate Gordon. Photograph by Pedro Lima

LUX: What experience and expertise do you look for in your members?
Katrina Aleksa: AWITA is a non-profit membership organisation open to women with a minimum of five years’ experience in the art world. We want gallery owners to connect with curators, arts journalists to connect with dealers, art advisors to meet academics in a lively, informal atmosphere. We believe in collaboration over competition, and want the membership to include as many different voices as possible.

LUX: AWITA is already the most connected network in UK for women in the visual arts, what do you think attracts women who are already influential in their fields?
Katrina Aleksa: Honestly, I think it’s the calibre of women who are already in the network. It’s a safe place to grow and share and ask questions. I think at whichever point somebody may be in their career, you still have questions even if you have been in art world for 20 or 30 years. Of course the questions may change as people advance through their careers, but many of the topics and challenges are the same.

Additionally, the nature of the art world, where creativity is at its core means that it constantly changes and challenges itself, arguably more than any other industry. Therefore, anyone working in the sector must also ensure they stay relevant and current, which means challenging, developing and growing your own thinking, and a network can really help with this. Nothing stays still for very long in the art world.

Of course, there is also the fact that women in senior roles can often feel alone due to their under-representation –  so many pieces of research have shown that women crave a network of peers, which of course is what AWITA is.

Rebecca Morril and Katrina Aleksa Ryemill (right) at the AWITA Great Women Artists event. Photograph by Pedro Lima

LUX: Do you have strong representation from non-UK based membership?
Katrina Aleksa: This is actually something completely new to us, not to mention very exciting. Ever since we set up there have always been a number of international applicants wanting to join and also numerous people who have wanted to set up AWITA entities in their local countries. However, whilst we always have wanted to do this we simply haven’t, until now, had the resources to expand internationally.

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We have, in many ways, really benefitted from the pivot we needed to make during these unprecedented times. Whilst we were very UK and London centric, organising some wonderful events that our members would attend and enjoy, the pandemic has meant that we had to move all of our events online. No longer were we “restricted” to the UK and predominantly London-based events that we were offering. We are now able to reach incredibly inspirational women across the globe that we would of not been able to do locally in London. Our membership has expanded internationally as result of that and I’m so proud that our international membership group is now the fastest growing aspect of AWITA.

LUX: What real life platforms are you working on at the moment?
Katrina Aleksa: We have recently launched a partnership with Cromwell Place, which is a first-of-its-kind exhibition and working space for galleries, dealers, collectors and art professionals seeking a presence in central London. With creativity, connection and collaboration at the core this partnership amplifies our mission and values.

Dressed for the art world AWITA event with Edeline Lee at Fenwicks London. From left to right: Indre Serpetyte-Roberts, Kate Gordon, Edeline Lee, Sigrid Kirk, Polly Robinson Gaer, Linsey Young, Helena Lee, Katrina Aleksa Ryemill. Photograph by Pedro Lima

LUX: During Covid, AWITA has turned adversity into advantage by running a series of hybrid events. What works well for live-streaming, and will you continue to exploit this format post-Covid?
Katrina Aleksa: Absolutely! I actually think that this “hybrid model” where the event is both online and ‘in person’ has huge potential to continue to ensure that we are offering a more inclusive model for our members around the world, whilst also offering what so many of our members crave: an in person experience immersed in the art world, surrounded by like minded art professionals.

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That said, I think the mood from everyone, not just our members, is that we have all now overdosed on “zoom” already. So the challenge is making the authentic and positive experience of our online programme running alongside our live events. I don’t think we will ever return back to being 100% online or offline, I believe the future and certainly 2021 will be a balance between both.

LUX: You have also focused on creating digital content – what kind of conversations has this facilitated?
Katrina Aleksa: We are still learning. My favourite quote is ‘flying a plane while building it’ and this is exactly what we are doing right now. We have had a tremendously positive response from our members, but we need to keep it up, not rest on our laurels and keep adapting to changing times.

Finding Balance: How to thrive in a 24/7 world panel discussion with AWITA at Phillips. From left to right: Catherine Blyth, Jo Stella-Sawicka, Angela Choon and Dr Zoé Whitley. Photograph by Pedro Lima

LUX: Have perspectives and priorities altered in 2020?
Katrina Aleksa: I don’t think there has been anyone who hasn’t been affected by current health crisis, whether you are in or outside of the art world, or whether you are an employer, an employee or even self-employed.

We, of course, had to adapt and pivot to be able to stay ahead of the curve and support our members. It was a priority for us to support our members, in whichever way they needed help or advice. We even instituted a very casual weekly coffee morning, online, which some of our members described as a lifeline, and a welcome break from home-schooling.

LUX: How have collectors adapted to this changed world?
Katrina Aleksa: I love that the art world hasn’t stopped! Whilst it has been very challenging for many people, I have also seen some people really flourish. Whether that be artists that were “breaking through” or professionals who were taking on new challenges, there have been many positive stories that we should all look at for motivation and inspiration. Of course, it is a challenging time and my heart goes out to all of the people who have been ill or have suffered losses during this difficult period, but the world keeps turning and art works have been bought and sold. Many online auctions have been showing a great increase in their results and like many other online businesses have really thrived. I always say, change is always happening and like in nature, the ones that are able to evolve and change are ultimately best positioned to survive and thrive. This pandemic has, in my mind, just presented a sped-up opportunity for change.

LUX: What sort of political or cultural partnerships are your members potentially exploring and can AWITA reach out to their sisters in parts of the world where women’s talents and voices are stifled?
Katrina Aleksa: It’s important to continue to build networks. We are talking to women in organisations around the globe and will be concentrating on leadership and new structures and models. We are concentrating on finding innovative and useful ways to keep the important conversations that need to be had going. While we may not be able to see each other in person, we can still stay connected.

LUX: What are your next plans?
Katrina Aleksa: With the huge increase across our membership we are finding that we are now able to represent more women than ever before, looking at tackling so many diverse challenges and opportunities around the art industry. Every new member we have ensures another voice and another way of thinking, so we will continue our growth drive – adding women into our network from all over the globe and then empowering them through more mentoring, networking and professional development.

Find out more: awita.london

Samantha Welsh is a contributing editor of LUX with a special focus on philanthropy.

London Art Studies offers mini art online art history classes for members

London Art Studies is the world’s first online arts education subscription website, offering mini video lectures and courses on artworks, artists and movements. Ahead of the site’s launch of a new section dedicated to children and teenagers, we speak to the founder Kate Gordon about creating effective short-form content and the future of the art world.

Kate Gordon. Photo by Ki Price

1. How did you progress from your early role in production to launching an educational art platform?

I took a very roundabout journey into television, starting at Sotheby’s, moving to Carlton Television where I worked on a variety of shows, and then ended up making art programmes for CNN. When the CNN show was cancelled, I was offered a job back at Sotheby’s as Head of Public Programmes for their educational arm. I found I loved combining brilliant teaching with a more popular approach; it was the early days of what now might be called “edu-tainment” and I set up London Art Studies in 2012. A couple of years after that, a friend mentioned that people around the world would want to see our classes and that was the lightbulb moment. It took 2 years to film the beginning of our content library, and we finally went online with our own educational platform in 2018. I didn’t realise until after we launched that I was carrying on a family tradition: my grandmother was a theatre producer, my father a TV producer, and I now produce short-form content for the internet.

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2. Most of the online videos are under five minutes long with many focusing on one specific artwork – why did you decide on this format?

Despite having more technology around us than ever, we’re all that much busier, aren’t we? It’s fairly easy to watch a 3 or 5 minute film, and learn something which stays with you. I also felt that going back to basics for some of the films made sense: everyone knows that the Mona Lisa is the world’s most famous painting, but does anyone really know why? Our short films aim to answer these questions, whether you’re about to visit an art gallery, standing in front of a particular artwork, or simply curious to learn more. We currently offer 12 different series: whether you’re now “virtually travelling” and want to find out what to see in a particular European city, or what really what made Picasso so brilliant, there’s a series to discover. We wanted also to explore the links between art and jewellery, and were lucky to launch our latest series with master jewellers Christian Hemmerle and James de Givenchy.

3. What drives LAS’ content programme?

Our subscribers are terrific, and often suggest series ideas, but it’s often simply a phrase (such as Dangerous Women) or a book concept. One of our most popular series “The Art Market” came about through Georgina Adam’s best-selling book. It’s something the team usually wants to learn more about, or indeed, to teach. There’s a lot of content out there, and we have to make sure that our films are not only relevant but useful. We received our first award only 5 months after launch, for excellence in education, and our most recent award – the Webby – is the digital equivalent of an Oscar. Our approach is often light-hearted, such as our 30 second Instagram post on how to pronounce van Gogh (for example) but the content is serious.

4. Can you tell us about the concept of The Academy and your decision to launch this summer?

We had always planned to launch a site for children/young people, but the lockdown speeded up our plans to do so. We had so many parents email us, saying they were watching the videos with their children, that we realised we had to bring forward our plans to help with home schooling. We’re aiming at ages 7-17, and have been fortunate in finding a new group of teenage presenters, whose enthusiasm for art is easy to see onscreen; I’m learning more from our teenage presenters than I ever thought possible. We’re also aligning content with the A level syllabus, in the hope of exams in 2021. It will also be a useful resource for those off to university to study art history, who haven’t actually taken the A level. People now consume on average 70 minutes a day of filmed content online; it should – and can be – both educational and enjoyable.

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5. How do you think the global lockdown will impact the future structures of the art world?

I think there’ll be great changes structurally for the time being; we’ll no longer be able to simply wander into a gallery without an appointment, or join a crush to see the latest blockbuster. I think museums and institutions are already moving to a hybrid model, with a larger global audience online. I think institutions will engage with local communities that much more, now that tourism numbers will probably decrease. I hope, and suspect, there’ll be more collaboration within the sector as a whole, and perhaps a slightly more agile approach when considering potential new pathways. Lastly, I believe the art world will make a conscious decision to reflect more of our diverse society and encourage the talents of those who have been traditionally overlooked.

6. Which period of art do you find most interesting and why?

I’m the eternal student, and it’s a great bonus for me that I can continue to learn as I work. I tend to think in terms of themes (the nude, the Baroque etc.) and we’re now editing a series called “Best of British” which explores everything from satire to seduction in British art. I find understanding contemporary art the hardest field for me, but am comforted by the fact that all art was contemporary, once, and that people have struggled for centuries with it. If pushed, I particularly enjoy seeing the links between art of the past and today; it’s how our series “Reflections: Then & Now” came about. We link works by Kerry James Marshall with Manet, and Cindy Sherman’s creations to Caravaggio. I enjoy referencing the past, alongside the art made today.

Find out more: londonartstudies.com