There's a new soccer team in the UK, Beta Squad FC, founded by YouTube influencers, that recently played a charity match against a team featuring “the most subscribed Twitch streamer of all time, Kai Cenat,” which drew a huge crowd. (Thanks, Wikipedia.) While some trained soccer players took to the pitch, the concept was less about sport and more about reach and entertainment, to the point that the encroachment on the pitch didn't even get the end result across.
What does this have to do with art? Well, our world is entering a phase where individuality and entertainment are starting to support not only the usual structures of art fairs, auctions and exhibitions, but also their foundation: art to hang on the wall.
This season in London, Christie's replaced its usual contemporary and modern art evening sale with a live auction of clothes from the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, which the auction house aptly described as “a surrealist escapade of familiar scenes transformed.” Last year, Sotheby's sold the collection of the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, but it wasn't a few paintings that proved most in demand. Artwork The auction was based not on things he owned, but on personal items he touched, such as his mustache comb, a kimono he wore on stage, and even the door to his home. Sotheby's also announced that this summer (July 17th) it will be auctioning off the bones of a 150-million-year-old stegosaurus with the stage name Apex, which is impressive and important, but not something you learned about in art history class.
Symbol of wealth
This expansion of offerings isn't so much an abandonment of art as a shift in how it's consumed—pun intended, since haute cuisine is also playing a part. Luxury brands, which often drive trends in the art market, are responding to the changing nature of non-essential goods at a time when most of what we need can now be bought online. This means more storytelling and celebrity partnerships within a broader, more connected, inherently physical scene.
Art is an important part of this cross-selling trajectory: LVMH's Belmond, which operates luxury hotels and travel services such as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, not only leverages its parent company's brands but also has Dior spas on its trains. It has also launched a residency for photographers and was a major sponsor of the Photo London fair in May this year.
Smaller art businesses, including commercial galleries, can choose to ignore the luxury consumer and continue to serve a niche customer base. But larger players, including auction houses, art fairs, and museums, realize they need the financial backing of a luxury brand, the ability to connect with a younger, more geographically diverse customer base, and the ability to satisfy an ever-more-demanding patron. Check out Hauser & Wirth's sister hotels, restaurants, and members-only clubs, or Art Basel's first “concept store,” which opened at this year's fair. (The $56 biscuits seem to be outside the “essentials” category.)
“Luxury has always been about desire, not necessity, and the most precious commodity is time, not money,” says fashion industry adviser Jenna Littler. Today's wealthy still want to spend their most precious commodity on art, but once-segregated symbols of wealth, from dinosaurs to soccer magnates, are now also included as part of the package.
