FOTAM 2019
In 2019 the Future of the Art Market was launched with a significant research report and an Unconference event.
In 2018-2019, Creative United started a research project authored by Lucy Rose Sollitt and aimed at exploring the social, economic and technological developments that have impacted the UK Contemporary Art Market. It was the first major study of its kind to be undertaken in the past 15 years.
Published in partnership with Arteïa, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland and DACS, The Future of the Art Market Report was officially released as a digital-only publication on 12 November 2019. A print version of the report is due to be published in January 2020 at the London Art Fair.
Through a concise, clearly structured, engaging and informative style, the Report captures the contours of the size and shape of the market through reference to a wide range of source material and takes an independent look at specific segments of the market. It avoids a sales and statistic-led approach in favour of nuanced and incisive contributions including ‘think-pieces’ by writer and theorist Penny Rafferty, artist Harm Van den Dorpel, art critics The White Pube, Arcadia Miss Gallery founder Rosza Farkas and Verisart CEO and co-founder Robert Norton. It looks to emerging practitioners to gain new insights into the forces and tensions shaping the art market ecosystem today, as well as its future trajectories, new and potentially disruptive technologies. The Report highlights the extreme fragility of the current art market ecosystem and presents the practical and philosophical challenges faced by those operating in the low and mid segments of the market, mainly their struggle in reaching buyers and accessing private capital.
Unconference
To coincide with the launch of the Report, Creative United organised the UK’s first Future of the Art Market Unconference on 13 November 2019 at Somerset House.
Produced in partnership with Vastari.com and UCL Innovation & Enterprise and hosted by Somerset House with support from Creative Scotland and international auction house Phillips.