Oligarchs Form An Orderly Queue
Oligarchs Form An Orderly Queue or There’s Never Been A Better Time To Invest In Art!
By Richard DeDomenici
Richard launches the independent artspace in his wristwatch - Black Cylinder Gallery - at Frieze Art Fair 2006.
Richard: I've got an art gallery in my watch.
Artgoer: So you have.
Richard: While you decide what to purchase, help yourself to a glass of wine.
As capitalism careers around the lip of the abyss1, London’s art establishment is mopping up following the frenzied circle jerk spending spree that is Frieze week.
Since Frieze Art Fair’s inception five years ago, sales have seen rapid year-on-year growth, from £20 million in 2003, to £33 million in 2005. Although exact figures have not been released in subsequent years, sources claim that sales could now be as much as £100 million2.
This recent boom is fuelled by super-rich non-domiciled residents, as ‘the number of high net-worth individuals in Europe continues to soar’3. According to the New York Times’ Roger Cohen, ‘Wealth is not so much diminishing, as it is shifting to emergent recession-resilient elites in places like Russia, China, India, Dubai and Brazil’4. Prominent among this group are the Russian oligarchs, who are transforming the capital’s art scene5.
If, as many are predicting6, takings at Frieze are down this year then perhaps the recession has finally reached the art market. If however revenue is up, then it may go some way to proving a theory posited in an essay by Sahil Malik in the September 2007 volume of Mute Magazine7, namely that the global art and financial markets have decoupled.
The crux of Malik’s theory is that art is less of a liquid asset than stocks and shares – ie. not as easy to trade – and thus subject to different risks than the stock market. Distribution of risk is key to ‘spreading the bet’ so investing in art is a hedge against the instability of the market.
By this rationale, as investors clamour to find safe havens for savings, the art market should thrive, or as Malik puts it:
‘A crash in the stock market need not result in an accompanying crash in the art market, but instead to an increase in art market prices as a compensatory investment’8.
Also, unlike other financial instruments, the sale of art isn’t regulated.
Footnotes
[1] Quote by broadcaster Michael Burke on Radio 4’s ‘On The Ropes’, 2nd October 2008
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/ontheropes.shtml
[2] International Herald Tribune, ‘Frieze week is a catalyst for London art’ 12th October 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/13/style/frieze.php?page=2
[3] Quote by Jonathan Breeze, CEO of boutique airline Jet Republic interviewed on Radio 4’s ‘PM’, 23rd September 2008
http://www.jetrepublic.com http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/pm
[4] New York Times, ‘Premiumize or Perish’, 14th September 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/opinion/15cohen.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
[5] The Guardian, ‘Prices soar as world's super-rich invade London art market’, 26th June 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jun/23/art.artnews
[6] Bloomberg.com, ‘Crisis Imperils U.K. Art Fairs’, 12th October 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=aUQDBUtgbJ64&refer=home
[7] I can highly recommend picking up a copy of this issue - a lot of the essays have proven rather prophetic, including some very interesting pieces about the Olympics; Did you know that ‘the IOC enjoys tax-free status despite not being a charity, a religion, or a non-profit organisation. And to be on the safe side, its members enjoy diplomatic status’? Mute is published in Whitechapel and is available from Freedom Press Bookshop, just round the back of Artsadmin.
http://www.metamute.org http://www.freedompress.org.uk
[8] Mute Magazine, A boom without end? ‘Liquidity, critique and the art market’, p92, Vol 2, #6, September 2007
http://www.metamute.org/en/A-Boom-Without-End-Liquidity-Critique-and-the-Art-Market
Spicy Bean Burger
Here are two pictures of a Spicy Bean Burger I ate this afternoon taken with two different cameras:
You can see that the second picture is of a much higher quality than the first.
That is all.
You can see that the second picture is of a much higher quality than the first.
That is all.
German January
Yesterday I met Jonathan Bonfiglio in Foyles' Cafe:
He bought me a can of San Pellegrino Chino:
All the taste of Cinzano, with none of the alcohol!
Should be their slogan.
Afterwards I was laying in the gutter in Charing Cross Road:
When I happened to peer into this grill:
Only to discover the remains of Little Compton Street below:
Was I dreaming?
Had I inadvertently stumbled upon a secret subterranean city?
Before I could consider this further, I was distracted by a stall in Earlham Street market selling three pairs of sunglasses for £10:
Here are the spex in use:
And to help me through my German January, I also picked up a deerstalker:
He bought me a can of San Pellegrino Chino:
All the taste of Cinzano, with none of the alcohol!
Should be their slogan.
Afterwards I was laying in the gutter in Charing Cross Road:
When I happened to peer into this grill:
Only to discover the remains of Little Compton Street below:
Was I dreaming?
Had I inadvertently stumbled upon a secret subterranean city?
Before I could consider this further, I was distracted by a stall in Earlham Street market selling three pairs of sunglasses for £10:
Here are the spex in use:
And to help me through my German January, I also picked up a deerstalker:
Missed Headline Opportunity
So Britney has stormed to the top of the Billboard 100 with her new single Womanizer, the first time she has had a US number one since her 1999 debut 'Baby One More Time'.
Here's how it's being reported by the press:
No one, however, has yet opted for my suggestion:
Whoop! She Did It Again.
Whoop! She Did It Again.
Whoop! She Did It Again.
Whoop! She Did It Again.
Fools.
Ahmadinejad Blog
DeDomenici Blog is pleased to announce a link exchange with Ahmadinejad Blog.
Me and Mahmoud are hoping that traffic to each of our sites will be boosted as a result.
Me and Mahmoud are hoping that traffic to each of our sites will be boosted as a result.
More Keith and Desalvo from Rhodri's Party
Keith works for the BBC World Service. Listen to some of his reportings here.
The lead singer of Desalvo, as far as I can tell, has never worked for the BBC World Service.
But I reckon they should consider hiring him.
Here is a quote about the band by Barry from Mogwai:
"they will completely and utterly destroy your life until you want to kill your family with a premium nail gun. Some of the nicest people I've ever met, though..."
If that sounds like your thing, here is their myspace.
(I can heartily recommend Cock Swastika Rock Action.)
All this makes me wonder if my band will ever reform..
Going for.. GOLD!
I've just stumbled upon this amazing extended version of the Going For Gold theme tune.
Sometimes I have dreams about extended versions of TV theme songs that don't actually exist; As such, I'm currently not sure whether I'm awake or not.
Hopefully posting it on the blog will confirm that I am not asleep.
(I seldom blog in my dreams.)
Sometimes I have dreams about extended versions of TV theme songs that don't actually exist; As such, I'm currently not sure whether I'm awake or not.
Hopefully posting it on the blog will confirm that I am not asleep.
(I seldom blog in my dreams.)
Are these your glasses I just found on the No.19 bus?
Doubly Tired of London
Sir Iain Blair has resigned as Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
(And only a week into the Stockwell Inquest.)
(And only a week into the Stockwell Inquest.)
Meanwhile the American Embassy is moving out of Grosvenor Square to the 'Nine-Elms Opportunity Area' in Wandsworth, for security reasons.
Nine-Elms Opportunity Area
Watch out, American Embassy, I got mugged very close to the Nine-Elms Opportunity Area in October 2005.
An event I discuss in my lecture Did Priya Pathak Ever Get Her Wallet Back?, which must now be rewritten before its next airing to reflect Sir Ian's resignation.
[inserts 'former' before all references to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair]
There.
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