COVID’s Impact on Expanding the Global Art Market
Project Summary:
Major museums (e.g. M+, MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art), art data repositories (e.g. Artprice, Artnet, Artsy) and auction houses (e.g. Sotheby’s, Christies, Philips, etc.) may be invited to provide data or participate in this Research Design Studio project.
The art market has expanded significantly over the last two decades fueled by low interest rates, more financial buyers for blue chip works, and increased online websites, social media platforms and tools for viewing works to learn more about art and artists. The increase in interest in the art market is particularly apparent in Asia. In the Asia Pacific Region, Hong Kong has grown to the second largest market for art in the world.
This Research Design Studio project will explore how more people became interested in the art market since COVID and what triggered the rise in interest in collecting art. The project will explore the role that more time and disposable income had during COVID as a driver for growth as well as social media’s role in increasing interest in art. Students will examine whetherthe NFT phenomenon was a vehicle for the new class of “young investor” collectors to participate in the market. Students also will examine whether art is a new financial asset class and the role banks, financiers, galleries, auction houses and other financial and art institutions are playing. In addition, students will also assess the current post-COVID environment of higher inflation and increasing interest rates and what impact a changing economic mix will have on the market to dampen or accelerate this new-found enthusiasm for collecting art.
Deliverables:
Students participating in this project will conduct interviews, research primary and secondary sources to better understand the drivers behind
- the growing number of collectors entering the art market and
- prices exceeding or falling short of their estimates at auction.
To bring focus to the project, the research will explore market developments for specific post-war artists during COVID through interviews with museums, artist foundations, collectors, and experts as well as analysis of data from the internet and social media platforms.
Preferred discipline(s):
Academia, Arts, Art History, Computer Science, Big Data Analytics, Consulting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Investment, Journalism, Marketing, Museum Studies, Humanities, Social Enterprises, and Social Media
Project Essential Skills:
Students interested in framing big problems, asking insightful questions, and shaping the project with creative approaches are invited to apply and will be considered.
Other Selection Criteria (if any):
N/A
Details of supervision arrangements:
Students are required to meet their project supervisors at least three times for progress update. The progress meetings are expected to conduct in person. For projects that are supervised by University of Chicago, the supervisors are either based in Hong Kong campus of University of Chicago or are planning to visit HK during the period of the research projects.